Striking Brown University dining hall and maintenance workers moved a step closer to an agreement in their 100-day-old contract dispute with the Brown administration when the workers agreed last night to discuss a new administration wage proposal.
The workers, however, voted to demand that the Brown administration grant a "blanket amnesty" to all 11 students arrested for blocking a delivery truck during a pro-strike demonstration near the university's main dining hall Thursday.
The students, who were released on their own recognizance following their arrest, face up to a year in jail and fines of $500, as well as internal disciplinary action from the Brown administration.
Another Demonstration
At noon yesterday, approximately 300 pro-strike students demonstrated outside Brown's University Hall while a meeting of the Brown Corporation was being held inside.
Forty of the students entered the building during the meeting. They had earlier vowed not to leave until their demands for the end of the strike had been heard by corporation members, but left voluntarily late in the afternoon.
A group of about 20--including many of those arrested Thursday--did meet with administration officials in the building during the afternoon, but one of the students later reported that the meeting produced no new developments.
A New Wage Offer
The Brown administration made its latest wage proposal yesterday, following a round of negotiations with the workers in the presence of a federal mediator.
The workers will hold a general strike meeting Tuesday night to discuss the new wage offer.
The workers, most of whom are members of Local 134 of the Service Employees International Union, have been seeking a 30-cent per hour pay increase The university's current wage proposal is reportedly a 25-cent per hour pay boost.
Union officials could not be reached for comment on the new wage proposal last night. However, members of "Students in a Vise," an ad hoc student group supporting the workers, said last night that a vote on the proposal could come as soon as the end of next week.
Librarians
The latest proposal apparently does not cover workers in the Brown libraries, who are engaged in separate deadlocked talks.
It was not clear whether the latest administration wage offer would be extended to the library workers as well.
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