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T HE T UFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXXIII, NUMBER 33
tuftsdaily.com
Friday, March 17, 2017
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
Tufts avoids NLRB hearing through agreement on schedule changes with facilities workers’ union by Catherine Perloff News Editor
Tufts University and 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the union representing facilities workers, finally reached an agreement regarding an unpopular schedule change. The agreement, which was made on Feb. 8, avoided a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing of the unfair labor practices charge the union filed, according to Eugenio Villasante, SEIU’s regional communications manager. In September 2016, five workers were moved from a Monday through Friday schedule to a Tuesday through Saturday schedule. SEIU argued that this change was made without giving the workers a fair opportunity to bargain, according to an Aug. 31, 2016 Daily article. The new agreement was reached after six months of negotiations among union officials, shop stewards, workers and representatives of the university. Under the agreement, workers currently on the Tuesday through Saturday shift will have a new path to return to a Monday through Friday schedule, according to Villasante. “If any member of the Medford grounds crew (outside of the Tuesday through Saturday shift) terminates their employment for any reason (including retirement, termination and/or resignation), the university agrees to allow the most senior member of the Tuesday through Saturday crew to bid for that position and return to a Monday through Friday shift,” Villasante told the Daily in an email.
This would mean that once a Monday through Friday worker leaves, the position would first be offered to the most senior Thursday through Saturday worker before being opened up to the general public. Jack Ng, a driver, is the most senior member of the Saturday crew and thus would be the first worker eligible to switch shifts. He said that if given the opportunity, he would make the switch. “I don’t mind [the Saturday shift] as much as I did in the beginning, but I think I would prefer to go back to Monday through Friday,” Ng said. However, he expressed concern that if he were switched to the Monday through Friday schedule, it might not be a permanent change. “I’ve heard rumors that they might [add a Sunday shift],” he said. “If I had to make a choice between working the Saturday shift or the Sunday shift, I would rather do the Saturday in case I was forced to work on Sunday.” Senior Facilities Director Stephen Nasson said that while there are currently no plans to create a Sunday shift, there is always a chance there will be further scheduling changes. “As a department, we are continually assessing the university’s operational needs and, while we have no immediate plans to change the current work schedule for utility workers/drivers, updates to our work schedules are always a possibility,” Nasson told the Daily in an email. Nasson said Tufts has the right to switch workers’ shifts. “Consistent with the terms of our collective bargaining agreement, the university retains the right to assign facility employees to differ-
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A member of the university janitorial staff sweeps snow on March 14. ent shifts, as needed,” he wrote. Additionally, workers who were placed on the Saturday shift will be compensated for the hardship the switch may have caused, according to Villasante. “The university agrees to pay each member of the Tuesday through Saturday crew a special hardship payment in a single lump sum amount of $1,000 per person,” Villasante wrote. Ng said that he had received this $1000 payment on his paycheck. Finally, the agreement capped the Saturday crew at six people. Originally, the crew was to consist of seven workers, Villasante said.
One worker, who asked to remain anonymous due to concerns for his job, said he believes the agreement came about because the administration wanted to save itself from legal action and not because of a genuine understanding of workers’ concerns. “[Management] had to do something because [they] were going to the labor board,” he said, referring to the unfair labor practice charge with NLRB. “It was kind of like, ‘let’s do this to shut them up.’ If [management] had their way they wouldn’t [have].” see UNION, page 2
Arabic program partners with language learning start-up that connects students and Syrian refugees by Emily Thompson Contributing Writer
The Arabic program at Tufts is partnering with a new start-up called NaTakallam, which pairs students who study Arabic with Syrian refugees who work as language partners for the students via Skype. NaTakallam, which translates to “we speak” in Arabic, was co-founded by Tufts alumna Aline Sara (LA ’06) as a way to connect refugees with Arabic learners for conversation practice while also offering the refugees a source of income. Sara, who is originally from Lebanon, said she came up with the idea for the program when she was job hunting shortly after finishing her master’s degree. “I was thinking of what it must be like to be a Syrian refugee, who is exactly like me — who had just finished their master’s, had a normal life and all of a sudden, it’s over,” Sara said. “Their
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country is completely falling apart. The conflict in Syria is extremely violent and horrifying.” Many Syrian refugees are not permitted to work in their new host countries, according to Sara. She wanted to help find a way for them to make a living. “[I can’t imagine] what it must be like to not even be able to apply for work. I know so many people who want to work on [their] Arabic, and Syrians all speak Arabic and they need some sort of income, and so why not create some sort of program where you connect refugees and language learners?” Sara said. According to Rana Abdul-Aziz, language coordinator for the Arabic program, NaTakallam reached out to Tufts in the summer of 2016, and the program was piloted at Tufts last fall in its colloquial Arabic classes. The program has since expanded, Abdul-Aziz told the Daily in an email. NaTakallam is intended to serve as an extension of what students learn in the classroom,
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according to Arabic Lecturer Souhad Zendah. Students take what they have learned in class and have conversations with their language partners, with whom they meet regularly. “Each student has the opportunity to meet with [their] language partner twice a week, and they are supposed to meet with them throughout the semester for eight full hours,” Zendah said. Students’ sessions with their NaTakallam language partners reinforce material learned in class, according to Abdul-Aziz. “Last semester, students had a unit where they were learning about traditional Levantine dishes. Students shared a recipe of their favorite dishes with their [language partners] and the [language partners] did the same,” AbdulAziz told the Daily in an email. “Other interactions include speaking about films, discussing literature, mock job interviews, etc.” Abdul-Aziz explained that NaTakallam benefits students in several ways. First and
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foremost, it offers the chance to interact with a native speaker who can provide valuable feedback to the student. “We hope that this interaction increases their motivation for learning the language,” Abdul-Aziz said. “It can be a motivating reminder of the overarching goal of language learning, which is to connect with native speakers. We do separately bring in Arabic speakers from the local community as guest speakers, but NaTakallam supplements this very effectively and at a more individualized level.” Zendah added that she noticed two major changes in the students after NaTakallam was implemented. First, students’ pronunciation improved. Second, students gained a deeper understanding of the language and the culture. “[Students] would bring in new stories, new cultural information into the classroom. A lot
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