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Safety issues loom at Union

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by Pedro Oliveira Jr.
Monday, January 21, 2008 12:15

The University of Wisconsin Police Department and the Wisconsin Union are investigating a series of incidents that led to the arrest of five UW students in mid-December, as well as handling criticism from a student who was allegedly assaulted in November.

According to UWPD South Campus Officer Erik Pearce, who is directly involved in the case, the students were sent forth for prosecution under charges of theft for their actions as employees.

Although Union higher management refused to provide details on the case, several student workers said most of the money went missing from Der Stiftskeller, a part of Der Rathskeller that serves alcoholic beverages and snacks.

“We conducted a lengthy investigation and had a lot of information to help us in our interviews,” Pearce said, adding UWPD had been involved in the case for one or two months prior to the arrests.

According to Pearce, the students arrested were either given a citation or taken to jail to have photos taken.

Since the investigation is still ongoing, Wisconsin Union staff and police refused to disclose how much money went missing or if there would be other arrests in the near future.

But three Union workers, who wished to remain anonymous for employment concerns, separately confirmed there were rumors inside the Union that the money missing likely will sum up to thousands of dollars.

“[Der Rathskeller manager] Jim [Long] started looking through the book and realized that something wasn’t quite right, lots of money that went missing, [workers] distributing a lot more beer than the money they were accounting for,” one worker said. “Basically, Jim started to investigate this and began to realize that this was much more of a deeper problem than it looked like.”

Long, the Lakefront manager and Der Rathskeller interim manager, declined comment.

Wisconsin Union Communications Director Marc Kennedy said Memorial Union is currently working to comply with new UW campus standards by adding security cameras to its facilities for “safety and loss prevention.”

About 50 cameras will be installed near all entrances, the Essentials Store, delis, restaurant cashiers, cash room and dark areas, like Hoofers and Outdoor Rentals by the Lakeshore Path.

The cameras will be monitored by UWPD, and there will be no cameras in common areas like Der Rathskeller or the Terrace.

“Some of it was consciously done, we don’t want it to appear like we’re watching anyone,” Kennedy said. “It’s there for the safety of the patrons, and the security of the building and around cashier stands.”

Memorial Union currently has cameras in the art galleries on the second floor and arcades on the first, and the installation of new cameras should begin as early as March 1, Kennedy said.

But Joe Hunt, stepfather of a student allegedly assaulted in November, told The Badger Herald he heard a different story from Union staff.

UW junior Tony Uhl, Hunt’s stepson, and building manager Brian Falkowski, were allegedly physically attacked by two young black males Nov. 17 at an event at the Union. After repeatedly punching and kicking Uhl and Falkowski, both escaped the Union before police arrived at the scene.

There were no security guards working at the Union that night and, without video evidence, police were unable to identify the attackers.

Hunt said he and Uhl’s father took a few days off work to stay in Madison and meet with Memorial Union Assistant Director for Facilities Paul Broadhead, and they were promised security cameras would be installed beginning Jan. 1.

“He also promised that there would be stepped up for all of the students at the Union,” Hunt said, adding he thought that was a “reasonable response” from the Union.

Three weeks into the new year with no cameras installed, Hunt said Friday “I don’t get the impression that Mr. Broadhead is as upset as I am about this.”

“If you’ve got problems at that Union, why haven’t they been solved? Why does it get students getting beat up for anybody to do something about it,” Hunt said.

Kennedy said the cameras had been planned before the missing money and the November violent attack.

Broadhead did not return phone calls seeking comment last week.


Feedback
Anonymous (January 22, 2008 @ 11:12am):

Oh my god, some kid from the suburbs got beat up. Stop everything!!!!

Anonymous (January 22, 2008 @ 12:40pm):

not to say the above post doesn't make a solid point, but he got assaulted at work and they didn't do anything. that's pretty weak regardless of where you grew up.

Anonymous (January 22, 2008 @ 9:18pm):

Before you lump physical assaults and supposed employee robbery together, some real reporting needs to be done. No employee in this investigation stole money from the union. There was an unspoken culture of employee conduct that was abruptly changed by the management that was out to make examples of hardworking honest student employees. The witch-hunt that is going on at the Rathskeller destroyed a family atmosphere that used to be the best job on campus which is now replaced with an empty shell of shattered employee management relationships. Being treated with little to no respect, no reciprocity in decision making, and having the tacit employee conduct turned upside down with no warning has not only left many employees with feelings of betrayal, but the unwarranted charges that some employees are facing could have repercussions that will resonate throughout their lives. The real victims here are the employees; those who were assaulted physically and those who were assaulted by the management.

Anonymous (January 22, 2008 @ 10:45pm):

This should classify as "Breaking News."

Anonymous (January 22, 2008 @ 10:49pm):

To comment 9:18 p.m.,

Did this "family atmosphere" you talk about at the Union include mistreating immigrant workers?

The Union's had a bad rapsheet for years, nothing surprises me any more.

Anonymous (January 23, 2008 @ 7:25am):

I like how you are trying to put blatent stealing in the light that it was a family atmosphere and now all of the comraderie is lost in the Union. In these students' future, when will it be acceptable to steal from their workplace? The charges should stick with them and haunt them as a lesson, THEY WERE STEALING! If you were the one paying for the kegs of beer that they were giving away, would you feel a bit of anger or unrest over it? I would assume so. So, I'm sorry that you're no longer able to steal from the Union, but grow up, THEY'RE ADULTS and need to take responsibility for stealing!

Anonymous (January 23, 2008 @ 9:38am):

"Oh my god, some kid from the suburbs got beat up. Stop everything!!!!"

Yer right - wait until they start popping caps in asses.

Anonymous (January 23, 2008 @ 10:59am):

The "family atmosphere" argument is the same attitude that says "I steal music because the record companies won't give it to me".

Are you saying that employers should be a little more understanding about employee theft? That there should be "reciprocity in decision making"? More warnings from employers that stealing is wrong? No consequences for the people who stole?

I can't imagine what planet some of you come from, but I'm very worried about the future of this country.

Anonymous (January 23, 2008 @ 4:49pm):

I worked at the union for about 8 years.

I'd been involved from everything to arbitration hearings regarding employee terminations with the now defunct M.U.L.O. to serving on the union's governance board as a student.

Yes, working at the union, especially in the Rathskeller, Stiffskeller or other food area it's been common practice for years for students (and other employees) to give other employees (and their friends) discounts. When M.U.L.O would re-negotiate it's contract on behalf of student and LTE employees one of the usual requests was for there to be an employee discount structure created at the union to get rid of the 'unofficial' discount. It was never approved. The union argued that it would cost them too much money if employees received a 10-15% discount on food/beverages.

Up until about 4 years ago it was common practice for the night janitors to help themselves to a pitcher or two of beer on their shift. One of the last termination cases M.U.L.O dealt with was an employee who was fired for this theft. In arbitration it was decided that because this had essentially been 'the culture' of the union, and had been occurring with management knowledge (if not explicent consent) singling out a single employee for a single incident when the problem was wide spread was discriminatory.

Theft from the union, if charged to the full extent of the law, is a BIG DEAL. If you work at McDonalds and get busted giving happy meals to your friends and get canned for theft you probably won't be charged, if you do it'll be a misdemeanor. Theft from the union, being related to the UW, and hence the State of WI it is essentially considered similar to stealing from the state and can be charged as a federal crime.

I'm not advocating theft in any way, but doing stings on students in such a way is a little underhanded in my book, especially since the structure of the union is so incredibly management heavy at the moment. I personally find the ineptitude, laziness, and outright theft by the 40+ year old respectable/adult employees who make between $34,000-$60,000+ a year and are salaried far worse and more expensive than a student making $7.50/hr. drinking/giving a couple of pitchers of beer away a shift. Over one half dozen of these new upper management and supervisors supervisor positions have been added in the last year. In addition all salaried employees receive full medical/dental insurance, vacation time, sick leave, income-continuance insurance, etc. all of which is subsidised by YOUR SEG FEES. Most of the salaried employees I work directly with HARDLY WORK. They put in maybe 20-30 hrs a week. They show up late morning or around noon, get coffee, check their email, leave to go get lunch, maybe take a nap after lunch, do a little work, attend a meeting on how to better 'respect the generations' of union patrons, spend some $ on new office furniture or toys, leave by 4 or 4:30. They use their access to union accounts to buy items for personal use to avoid having to pay taxes and to get the universities vendor discount. They use the rooms and facilities of the union to host private parties with out paying rental fees or following union policies requiring the use of the union's catering department.

Students are getting shafted. It's not really your union anymore. It caters to alum's and corporate and scientific conferences BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE THE MONEY'S AT. Why get rid of the travel center? To make room for research boards for the multitude of international scientific conferences to be held this summer at the union. The improvements the students in ASM and SLAC have tried to make for LTE employees have succeeded on paper but failed in reality. Yes positions have been converted from LTE to full-time but not the employees themselves have since been replaced. Instead of paying enough for the cooks and bakers and sandwich makers working in the basement to be able to live off of, homeless and work-release LTE's were just let go and replaced by other LTE's (who would complain less).

In the past the only students who got in trouble/fired from the stiffskeller were those who would either:
1) charge customers full price for beer and then pocket all of the money taking in $100-200 in cash a day/shift in the summer.
2)wandering around the terrace to collect empty pitchers (claiming the bar was running out) to collect the deposit (usually less than $50 at a time).
3)steal directly from the till.

Anything else was always overlooked or ignored. When you pay the people who work the most the least, who have to deal with the most difficult customers, and get a lousy $5 on your wisc card as a holiday bonus for your year's work (and no vacation or benefits) what do you really expect?

Anonymous (January 23, 2008 @ 7:24pm):

Oh yeah, like the management doesn't get free beer or anything. Why don't we look at some of the BS the Union Management has done. Why don't we inspect the work they oversee (or should oversee) Why is there so many assistant directors making over 80,000 a year while the Union (which was a student union taken over by a bunch of business minded "individuals") deteriorates until the students have to shell out millions in seg fees to pay for a space that they can hardly use anymore. Its all being turned into office space and meeting space for people other than students. I think the students should take THEIR union back. The workers there are exploited, patronized, and treated with no respect. If you want to see a manager or director of the union shutter just say the word OSHA.

Anonymous (January 23, 2008 @ 7:34pm):

Notice how the Union refuses to comment, as usual, they ignore things if they are not safe or aren't making them (the administration) look good.

Anonymous (January 23, 2008 @ 9:10pm):

I was not condoning stealing in my previous post. The problem is that the conduct the employees were engaging in was known by the management for decades and allowed to happen anyway. The management had every right to want to change the work culture but the problem is the way they chose to make those changes. By not addressing the employees with the dignity and respect they deserved by talking about the practices that management wanted to change, they instead potentially put black marks on these young adults records for the rest of their lives and destroyed a great working environment. Those students do indeed need to be accountable for their actions and so does the management because they are responsible to some degree for allowing this to happen for so long, for allowing this to get out of control, and for pulling the rug out from its employees instead of dealing with this problem in house like mature and responsible (supposed) ADULTS.

Anonymous (January 24, 2008 @ 1:48am):

In response to the comment about employee discounts....

While it may be too expensive to give employee discounts that is not the whole reason. Even if it cost the Union nothing to give an employee discount they couldn't. Why....because it is against WI state law. No state employee (which includes anyone working for the Union) can accept any monetary discount or donation (including tips) for work done while being paid by the state.

Anonymous (January 24, 2008 @ 9:23pm):

The law that prohibits state employees from getting discounts and taking tips makes sense for most people that are employed by the state, but like most things absolutes dont make sense in all situations. I agree that people like the governor shouldnt be allowed to take tips for his work, that would be a conflict of interest, but a bar tender who services a never ending line for eight straight hours that also happens to be a state employee because he/she is employed at the union should be allowed to have potential discounts and take tips. Different situations need to be looked at with a pragmatic lens, and to simply say all state employees cant take tips without looking at the specific situations is narrow minded, short-sighted, lazy, and ignorant.

Anonymous (January 25, 2008 @ 10:59am):

Let me ask everyone a question...how many of you out there would give up your summer nights tending bar at the busiest bar in MAD TOWN for $7.50 with no tips...orrrr would you be tempted to cut a few corners on your own and give a few pitchers in exchange for a good tip? Anyone who says he/she wouldn't at least think about it is a liar plain and simple. Period.

As for the two guys who got beat up, I know them both personally. Don't call them suburb types until you know them. They work alot (i.e. working implies a need for money beyond one's current asset level to satisfy current and future expenses for those of you don't understand how that works). They also had no bitterness after the event and didn't ask to be in the paper. Lets be honest, anyone who implies that its ok for someone to get beat up for no reason because of their income level or upbringing is...sadly ignorant.

Grow up people, this is big kid school now.

Anonymous (February 3, 2008 @ 2:11pm):

it's safe to say at this moment, most people have lost a lot of respect for management at Memorial Union, not to mention they most likely have lost all respect for their jobs there. Since the addition of Paul Broadhead, students have lost respect for their jobs because of the way he "runs" the building. It's become HIS union and not the student union. Now is the time for people to take this problem up with higher officials. Be brave people. Be brave.

Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 12:48pm):

To the anonymous poster from January 23rd at 4:49: The old staff of the Rathskeller (from top to bottom) is taking legal action against what took place in December of '07. Based on your response, your input would provide us with a great deal of help. We are trying to restore the "student" into student union and dispel the new corporate attitude which has finally made it to the Rathskeller. The underhanded, illegal methods by which our work staff (from student employees to managers) was forcibly turned over will not stand up in court, provided we have the proper evidence. After reading your post (about ten times), I can see that you may have some light to shed on the subject.

PLEASE contact me at youcanliveathome@yahoo.com if you see this.

You wouldn't believe what it's like down here these days.

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