Yale workers picket in New York

Chanting "No contract, no work, no peace," Yale University's striking clerical workers picketed outside the Yale Club of New York Friday. Approximately 500 people, including Barnard College of Columbia University and New York University clerical unions, gathered at the Yale Club as alumni donors arrived for a fund-raising event, called "A Day with Yale in New York." "If you really want to know what a day at Yale is like in 1996, you need to see strikers," Local 34 President Laura Smith said at the rally. New York's hotel and restaurant workers union president also spoke at the rally, demonstrating his solidarity with the Yale workers. The event was moved from the third floor of the building to the 20th, but the workers could still be heard as Yale President Richard Levin spoke to the alumni, according to Local 34 spokesperson Deborah Chernoff. "It was successful in the sense that aside from making a very visible and audible presence, there were many people who asked pointed questions to the president about the issues we have raised," Chernoff said. The event was key to Yale's campaign to raise money for deferred maintenance projects. On Friday evening, the roof of a dining hall collapsed during dinner with no students seriously injured. "This deferred maintenance program they started 20 years ago is something that the union members who maintain the buildings said would come back to haunt them," Chernoff said. "The buildings are now literally falling down." Following the two-hour demonstration, Yale workers went uptown to picket with 150 clerical workers from Barnard who are also striking. The Barnard workers are protesting against a Columbia proposal that they co-pay their health insurance. They have been on strike for 10 days. "It gave people a great sense of community," Chernoff said. "We taught each other new chants." The pickets at Barnard lasted for an hour. Currently, Local 34 workers have been on strike for four weeks. But on Wednesday, they will go back to work even if there has not been a contract settlement, Chernoff said. Yale is attempting to cut budget costs by reducing wages and lowering health benefits for retirees. Local 35 members will then go on strike in their place on March 25, the day undergraduates return from spring break, she added. "The idea is that we're assuming the university wants a long strike," said Michael Boyle, Local 34's chief negotiator. To offset the financial burdens of a strike, Local 35 members have contributed to a strike fund. The clerical workers will set up a similar fund if Local 35 does go on strike, Boyle said. Yale's striking employees are also supported by the Graduate Students and Employees Organization, which had an unsuccessful grade strike in January -- gaining no concessions from the administration.