10-5-2017

Page 1

NEWS Pro-pot advocates are looking to block marijuana retail revenue from towns that have placed restrictions on the industry. p.2

INBUSINESS Women@Forbes kicked off the Forbes Under 30 Summit, focusing on women in the technology field. p.6

66°/78° Sunny

SPORTS The Boston University women’s soccer team will look to extend their shutout streak to six games this weekend p.11

DAILYFREEPRESS.COM @DAILYFREEPRESS

(FORECAST.IO)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR XLVI. VOLUME XCIII. ISSUE V.

Lecturers reach long-awaited compromise with BU

Seth Blumenthal is one of the Boston University lecturers involved in negotiating a contract with BU administration granting higher wages and better job security to lecturers.

BY CAMILLE FOWLER

DAILY FREE PRESS CONTRIBUTOR

After over a year of negotiations and threats of a lecturers’ strike, the Boston University administration reached their firstever agreement with about 250 members of SEIU Local 509 on Friday. Katherine Lakin-Shultz, an active union member and lecturer at BU, said the threeyear agreement stipulates that BU lecturers will receive pay increases during each year of the contract along with income security and the establishment of a fund for paid professional development. The lecturers, who unionized in April 2016 in hopes of achieving higher salaries and better job security, are teachers at BU who are not tenured and do not have the promise of becoming tenured as professors do.

Julie Sandell, associate provost for faculty affairs, wrote in an email that about 10 percent of the faculty on BU’s Charles River Campus are salaried lecturers and instructors who are now covered by the union contract. “These are skilled and dedicated faculty members, who primarily concentrate on teaching,” Sandell wrote. “They play an especially large role in several programs, including language instruction, the Writing Program and CGS, among others.” Sandell worked on negotiations from the university’s end along with BU’s chief negotiator, Juditra Burgess, who is the director of labor relations. “Our goal was a fair and balanced contract that provided clarity on all aspects of employment,” Sandell wrote. In addition to the paid professional fund, the university has agreed to set up an additional fund to recognize lecturers who have

proven to be particularly distinguished in the BU community beginning in September 2018, according to Lakin-Schultz . Lakin-Schultz, who is the head of the French language program at BU, said the agreement is tentative, pending a ratification vote by members of the union. On average, lecturers will receive a 15 percent salary increase in the first year of the contract and the lowest-paid lecturers will see the most dramatic salary hike, LakinSchultz said. She added that the agreement with the university will benefit not just the lecturers but the entire BU community. “Anything that allows all members of the faculty to have an open dialogue with the administration that actually is effective to create positive and intangible change will directly benefit workers and students and will be really positive,” Lakin-Schultz said. Lakin-Schultz added that the lecturers

PHOTO BY CHLOE GRINBERG/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

had publicly planned to walk out on Oct. 11 in an Unfair Labor Practice strike. The longawaited settlement averted the strike, but the settlement came months after the National Labor Relations Board issued an official complaint against BU for concealing data about professors’ salaries and workloads, according to a Sept. 29 article in The Boston Globe. Several lecturers involved in the negotiations said they think the terms of the new contract will improve the quality of education as a whole at BU. Seth Blumenthal, a lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences writing program, wrote in an email that he thinks the agreement is a big step forward for lecturers. “We think this is a great start that significantly raises the floor for the lowest paid lecturers, and we appreciate that the BU administration has made an impressive CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Bostonians oppose ICE arrests BY SHANNON LARSON DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Fifty immigrants in Massachusetts were among the 498 arrested nationwide, in an effort that ended Sept. 27 called Operation “Safe City,” which targeted individuals who had violated federal immigration laws in regions and cities under a sanctuary status. Of the 50 individuals that officers in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested, 30 have criminal records and 20 don’t, according to figures provided by ICE. ICE specifically targeted sanctuary jurisdictions because of threats to public safety and potential for widespread illegal immigration that may result, ICE acting director

Thomas Homan said in a Friday press release. “Sanctuary jurisdictions that do not honor detainers or allow us access to jails and prisons are shielding criminal aliens from immigration enforcement and creating a magnet for illegal immigration,” Homan said. As a result, ICE aims to arrest these immigrant offenders, prosecute them for their crimes and ultimately deport the individuals, Thomas Decker, field office director for Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York, said in the release. Patricia Montes, the executive director of Centro Presente — a Latino organization fighting for immigrants’ rights and economic justice in Massachusetts — said operations of this nature are the equivalent to “a war against immigrants.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

GRAPHIC BY ERIC MARKUS/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.