Dartblog

The Valley News reported in an off-line article last week that the College and the SEIU labor union are in the final stages of negotiating a new contract:

HANOVER - After months of fruitless negotiations, Dartmouth College union employees will meet with the college on Monday to try to settle on a contract.

If an agreement can’t be reached, Service Employees International Union Local 560 President Earl Sweet said he’s not sure what lengths the union might go to, but he was firm in saying that a strike isn’t up for discussion yet…

The SEIU represents about 520 blue-collar workers in areas like maintenance, dining services and athletic facilities.

Sweet said issues of concern for the union include wages, health care and the use of subcontractors. In 2010, the union agreed on a two-year contract in which employees wouldn’t see a raise with the stipulation that no more union employees would be laid off.

Sweet said there also are positions in dining service within Baker-Berry Library that should be filled by union employees, but were subcontracted out.

Sweet said after Monday’s session, he hopes to be able to bring the college’s “last best offer” to union members so it can be put to a vote.

You have got to hand it to Earl. He sure talks tough for someone with no cards in his hand. As this space has documented, SEIU employees are compensated at about twice the level of workers doing equivalent jobs in Hanover — and they know it — and they are paid appreciably more than SEIU workers at Brown, despite the fact that Providence is a higher cost location than Hanover.

The union will fold pretty fast in this negotiation if the College’s administrators have the nerve to call its hand. But can anyone imagine Carol Folt playing poker? Anything resembling a raise from present levels for the staff is mismanagement.