AFSCME files unfair labor practices complaint against U

Unions representing 3,500 workers at the University of Minnesota have filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the school, saying administrators are trying to control bargaining committee membership.

Contracts for AFSCME units representing clerical, technical and health care workers expired in June. The union wanted the clerical and health care units to bargain a new contract together. The university refused.

Representatives of some of the AFSCME units are sitting in on each other's negotiation sessions, and asked that the observers receive union leave benefits that allow them to accrue vacation and sick leave benefits while they are there. The school refused.

"For us, that's the university trying to control who is on the negotiating committee," said Jennifer Lovaasen, communications director for the union. She said some members can't afford to attend the sessions without the benefits.

"No one is ever denied an opportunity to come to the bargaining session," said Mark Rotenberg, the university's general counsel. "But we do not have to provide special benefits to someone who wants to come to the table and is not in the bargaining unit."

A hearing on the union complaint will be scheduled soon.

In 2003, members of the clerical unit were on strike for two weeks. It was the first strike at the university in almost 60 years.

Big Ten Changes its Bowl Lineup for 2006: Sun & Music City Out, Insight & Champs Sports In

The Big Ten shuffled its postseason bowl game lineup, adding some popular fan destinations in new football agreements announced Tuesday.

The league added the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando and the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., in a four-year agreement starting in 2006. The conference will drop the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, and the Music City Bowl in Nashville after this season. The status of the Motor City Bowl in Detroit is still up in the air.

The Big Ten also extended its agreement with the Capital One (Orlando), Outback (Tampa, Fla.) and Alamo (San Antonio) bowls for four more years. It already had signed an eight-year extension with the Rose Bowl through the 2013 season.

"With a heavy concentration of Big Ten alumni in the states of Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, this bowl lineup is a natural fit for the conference and should provide some great matchups on the field," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said.

Held the final week of December, the Champs Sports Bowl will have the fourth choice of Big Ten schools for two years and the fifth choice the other two years, rotating with the Alamo Bowl. The Big Ten's opponent for the Champs Sports Bowl has not been finalized yet.

The Insight Bowl will move to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., in December 2006 and will pit the Big Ten against the Big 12.

The Big Ten currently has six tie-ins outside the Rose Bowl. A league spokesperson said the conference is exploring either an extension with the Motor City Bowl or adding a different bowl game.