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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1986)
Tuesday, January 28, 1986/The Battalion/Page 7 00. World and Nation Union meatpackers fired in Texas, Nebraska, Iowa Associated Press AUSTIN, Minn. — Hormel fired union meatpackers Monday in Texas, Nebraska and Iowa for refus ing to cross picket lines set up by workers who have been on strike against the company’s flagship plant for more than five months. “We have contracts in place at those plants, and we expect our peo ple to honor those contracts,” said Chuck Nyberg, senior vice president of Geo. A Hormel 8c Co., which is based in Austin. The president of the union local in Austin said the firings increased the stakes in the dispute that began in August when 1,500 workers went on strike over wages and other is sues. "The fact that the company has fired those people puts us m a posi tion to bargain. Tne company will have to bargain with us all,” said Jim Guyette, president of Local P-9 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Nyberg said a substantial portion of the 800 union workers at Hor- mel’s Ottumwa, Iowa, plant were fired when they honored Local P-9’s picket line. A few workers were fired at the company’s Dallas plant, and about 60 were fired at a plant in Fremont, Nyberg said. In Austin the Hormel plant was open Monday, but pickets walked outside and National Guardsmen continued to patrol against violence. Ray Rogers, a strike strategist hired by Local P-9, said pickets will be sent to other plants this week as well as to a stockholders’ meeting Tuesday in Houston. The union also called for a na tional boycott of Hormel products. The firings came a day after a neutral fact finder appointed by Gov. Rudy Perpich called on union members to vote a third time on a contract proposal suggested by a me diator. Arnold Zack, a Boston-based la bor attorney, said fears that the me diator’s proposal would allow Hor mel to spread a 36-hour work week over seven days were unfounded. The strike began Aug. 17 after Hormel cut wages by 23 percent and dropped the base wage from $10.69 to $8.25 an hour. Union workers at other Hormel plants accepted the concessions and now earn $10 an hour. Local P-9 members fought the cut and, be cause of an arbitrator’s ruling, were making $9.25 an hour before the strike. The mediator’s proposal would provide a base rate of $10 an hour at the Austin plant. / Shuttle flight delayed Broken bolt gives wind time to strengthen Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The flight of school teacher Christa McAuliffe on space shuttle Challenger was postponed today because of strong winds that built up during the more than two hours that techni cians wrestled with a hatch bolt. “We are going to scrub for today,” said NASA spokesman Hugh Harris, announcing the third post ponement for the flight in as many days. Officials reset the launch for 9:38 a.m. EST Tues day. By the time the repairs ended, the winds had strengthened and gusts of 30 mph whipped across the runway where Challenger would land if there were an emergency after liftoff. Winds of more than 17 mph are considered danger ous for a landing. Launch director Gene Thomas called off the effort about 12:30 p.m., the third weather postponement for the flight. The seven astronauts, including 37-year-old McAu liffe, the first private citizen named to a space flight, had grim looks on their faces as they returned to their quarters. The problems began when microswitches failed to confirm that the shuttle’s hatch was closed properly. Technicians put a ring of tape around the circular opening, and an engineer climbed in the cabin to ver ify that the door would shut. The workers then were unable to remove a “frozen” bolt that holds a hatch handle that is not needed in flight. They called for a portable drill and a hacksaw, but only a drill was sent, and it took 35 minutes to reach the launch pad. When the technicians tried to use the drill, they found that its battery was dead. Ten minutes later, the hacksaw and a second drill with a spare battery pack arrived. But tne bolt was too hard and it chewed up the drill bit. The bolt was finally cut away with the hacksaw after two hours of frustrating labor. U.S. to use satellites to send messages IS ;an Jo® -nal off Science, are othfl nient, t- iblished idicat« Jniversi' , ar ch act ides v® 1978-1® y of M h UnivEfl following )sitions if • Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Reagan administration plans to use satellites and cable television to get its mes sage across to the non-communist world. Last April, the United States In formation Agency, moving away from what one of its officials calls its “backwater” status, embraced TV technology and started televising two hours a day of programming to European cable television systems. USIA claims it now reaches more than one million Europeans through a number of cable companies. By the end of next year, USIA will extend the service to Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. USIA calls its TV service “World- net.” The centerpiece is a daily 30- minute magazine show called “America Today,” a combination of news, features and interviews. A weekly “Science World” show offers documentaries produced by USIA with the help of American corporations. Chrysler Corp. cooperated in one of them, showing off its compute rized auto assembly line. On an other, TRW told how it was able to capture an errant satellite and put it on its proper path. The Soviet Union is not pleased by the celestial broadcasting opera tion. A Moscow commentator said last year Worldnet is being “used by Washington to impose its foreign policy line upon other countries.” The trans-oceanic experiment be gan in November 1983 when the ad ministration, stung by foreign crit icism of the U.S.-led invasion of Grenada the previous month, ar ranged a satellite interview featuring top U.S. officials and 40 journalists based at five U.S. embassies in Eu rope. A month later USIA achieved an other breakthrough when it ar ranged an extraterrestrial news con ference with the crew of the shuttle Challenger. Nixon gets hospitalized flu Associated Press MIAMI BEACH — Former Presi dent Richard Nixon was hospitalized Monday after coming down with the flu during a Bahamas vacation. “We don’t anticipate any prob lems. He should be fine,” Dr. Louis Elias said, who admitted Nixon to the Miami Heart Institute on Mon day afternoon after examining him at the request of a mutual friend, restaurateur Cye Mandell. Nixon, 73, was suffering from mild dehydration, a temperature 1 degree above normal, fatigue and lethargy, Elias said. His patient was receiving glucose, a saline solution and antibotics intravenously, Elias said. There were no cardiovascular or neurological difficulties involved, Elias said. He said he expected to keep Nixon in the VIP suite here for about three days. His wife, Patricia, was with him, “We don’t anticipate any problems. He should be fine. ” — Dr. Louis Elias of Mi ami Heart Institute. hospital officials said. Nixon had been visiting his friend Bebe Rebozo on exclusive Cat Cay in the Bahamas when he became ill Fri day, Elias said. Nixon flew here aboard a private helicopter early Monday and had planned to fly on to New York after his examination, Elias said. “I just felt he wasn’t quite up to make a trip to New York,” Elias said. “He was in such a hurry to get back to New York that we thought we could treat this faster at the hospital than as an outpatient.” Elias said Nixon was in good phys ical condition and reported walking three miles a day and playing a strong game of golf. Nixon had been vacationing in the Bahamas since Thursday, according to a statement read by Dolores Dynes of the former president’s New York office. Herb Never Had a f?ea/Johl Business Career Fair Knows Why! Blocker Building Feb. 3-7 J I I—1—L...L _l 1__1 1 l._ L I I I I I I I I » I I I I L I I « I I 1 J I E l I I I ALL YOU CAN EAT! Buy one Mongolian Bar-B-Q & Chinese ^ Food Buffet and get a second meal for HALF PRICE 693-1736 Mongolian House Restaurant Must present this coupon. 1503 S. Texas at Expires 2-28-86 Holiday Inn College Station May Grads & Summer Engineers M.E., Chem. E., and M.B.A.’s with technical undergraduate degrees: What does an engineer do in MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT? FIND OUT! PROCTER & GAMBLE will be hosting an open house Tuesday, Jan. 28, 7:00 p.m. MSC, Room 212 Sign up for interviews Jan 27-Feb 5