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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1997)
State Tuesday • December‘ie Difficult working conditions, long hours among issues in collective-bargaining debate Medical residents seek AMA support for unions LULAC in suppi of limited voud bill, director si DALLAS (AP) — Medical resi dents argued Monday for the right to join labor unions, telling an American Medical Association pan el of such difficult working condi tions as work shifts that last for more than 70 hours. Residents — doctors who are in their last phase of training — tradi tionally have been classified as stu dents by labor oversight organiza tions, making them ineligible to bargain collectively on wages, ben efits and work conditions. The AMA, conducting its bien nial House of Delegates meeting in Dallas, is considering a pro posed endorsement of collective bargaining rights for residents. Delegates will vote on the propo sition Tuesday. Critics of the idea of a residents’ union said members inevitably would petition for higher pay, leading to skyrocketing costs for patients. Rick Wade, American Hospital Association vice president for communication, contended that collective bargaining isn’t neces sary for residents. “The bargaining chip will always have to be patient care in any kind of negotiations,” Wade said. “That will never be acceptable ... the pa tients would suffer.” But residents argued that the Accreditation Council of Gradu ate Medical Education could pro vide for some collective bargain ing if residents renounced the right to strike. Dr. C. Darren Duvall, chairman of the AMA’s resident physician sec tion, told the committee that plen ty of hospitals treat residents well, but many need protection. “No one wants the ability to strike,” Duvall said. “We only ask that institutions (hospitals) can’t be allowed to stop the formation of a resident bargaining organization.” The AMA is a parent organization of the Accreditation Council of Grad uate Medical Education and could influence how the group votes on a resident union proposition. “The (AMA) board of trustees would support collective bargaining for all physicians, but we have a long-standing tradition that no physicians should use a strike as a bargaining chip,” said board mem ber Dr. William Mahood. “The residents say they don’t want to strike; they just don’t want to have to fear retribution if they make their concerns known. We support that,” he said. Mahood said the board was par tially persuaded by an anecdote about a residents that was working regular shifts at hospitals while moonlighting at the same hospital for overtime. But the resident was assigned eventually to the overtime as part of his education assignment, meaning it was unpaid. Dr. Tim Reeder, a resident at Ohio State University Hospital, said he has worked 28 consecutive hours and believes collective bargaining would allow for some limits on how residents were treated. “There should be some guide lines,” Reeder said. “Right now, what you have is outright exploitation by some hospitals.” But Wade said that if residents are overworked, that has been “the traditional method for teaching doctors in this country.” “What we’re seeing now are resi dents who are not satisfied with that process. But we support the process as it is.” Ballard announces plans to run for spot on Board of Education AUSTIN (AP) — Conservative firebrand Donna Ballard, who re signed from the State Board of Ed ucation this fall to join her hus band in Midland, told The Associated Press yesterday she will seek to regain a board spot. She is running for the seat now held by Democratic incumbent Rene Nunez. “In this time in my life, my passion is for education,” Ms. Ballard said in a telephone inter view. “Basically, what I hope this campaign will be about is offer ing a positive and hopeful mes sage to the people of District 1.... If we do it right, we can have our schools performing at our high est expectations.” Ballard, a Republican, was elected to the board from The Woodlands in 1994 with the back ing of religious conservatives. She resigned effective Oct. 1 to move to Midland because her husband had taken a position there as a church pastor. When she announced her resig nation, Ballar d had said she was se riously considering a run for the Legislature as soon as next year and hinted she might challenge Repub lican Sen. Teel Bivins of Amarillo. Yesterday, she said she is run ning again for the education board next year. “I think she’s just fishing for a position to get back into politics,” said Nunez, who is completing his ninth year on the State Board of Education. “I believe that my constituen cy — that of the Valley and far West Texas — have supported me in the past, and I believe that they have enjoyed our relationship, which has been one of a lot of contact with members of the ed ucation community and business community. ... Hopefully they’ll be there again,” he said. While on the board, Ms. Ballard was labeled a leader of a six-mem ber bloc of Republican social con servatives. The other three Repub lican members of the 15-member board regularly have voted with the six Democrats. Raising the hackles of some Re publicans and Democrats alike, Ms. Ballard took strong stands on issues including “unwanted federal intru sion” into Texas education; legisla tive restrictions on the board’s pow er; and a massive school curriculum rewrite, which she termed mediocre and faulted Republican Gov. George W. Bush for supporting. Ballard said she will be “very comfortable” running in a district with a large Hispanic population. “Children are children. If you love children and you care about their future, that’ll come across,” she said. AUSTIN (AP) — The League of United Latin American Citizens will work on a bill for the next legislative session to allow the use of public funds to pay private school tuition for certain students, officials with the group said Monday. The LULAC officials emphasized that the move — the group’s first in support of vouchers — isn’t meant to diminish public education but to focus on students in low-perform ing public schools. “The mentality that everybody had (previously) was that this would hurt the public (schools), but actually it makes them account able,” said Angie Garcia, LULAC state director. The group’s board this weekend in Fort Worth approved a resolution supporting the voucher idea as long as LULAC has input in the legisla tion, Garcia said. The vote came after a presenta tion from Rep. Henry Cuellar, D- Laredo, who outlined a proposal tied to the public education grant program. That program allows stu dents in low-performing public schools to transfer to other public schools that agree to take them. Under the proposal, students re fused admission to another public school could instead use public funds to attend a private school, Cuellar said. “If this happens, then that parent is going to have a choice to send them to private schools,” Garcia said. The group wants to have input into the legislation considered in the next regular session in 1999 to ensure public schools wouldn’t be hurt, she said. LULAC board member Gil Gamez said the board also has concerns about such issues as student trans portation and would like to see a pro vision to get studentsb.,5 sc hools that improve;; “It’saqualifiedendr |? idea,” Gamez said “We sure that ourconcemsai The LULACresoluti ter Democratic It. Gt “It’s a qualified enifl of the idea. We war: make sure thatonj||| are addressed.” GIL game: Me LULAC BOARD!. 1 : jpc lock, who’s not rurminj tion, signed on at chairman of PuttingG a pro-voucher group. Voucher oppone Richards, daughterof Ann Richards and exec ^ tor of the Texas Freecb 1 ^’ said she fears sud would be "nothingbut. drain on the publicsclt are already underfiuide; “I think when people voucher proposals, the ize our money is nit: spent making sure all L lie schools get thebe public education,"she:: Jimmy Mansour, chr Putting Children Firsts ecstatic about LULAC's ment of the school cht ment. We have nevert that any child should!’ in a low-performingsc: endorsement further our movement.” Cuellar said LULAC'sir will give the voucher idea: Thu dG FINALS SPECIAL 1 large, 1 topping 2 20oz. or other Coca-Cola product FINALS HOURS 11 am - 4am lOth - Tuesday 16th Station Stores IlOO Rd. 846-3600 601 University Dr. VISA Store Hours: Mon. - Thurs.: 8 a.m. - 6 p.l* 1 ' Fri.: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sat.: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Cash for your books, and Deal Bucks, too! Bring in your textbooks to on-campus bookstore now a them to us for extra holiday A Memorial Student Center 845-8681