Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Aug. 21, 2004, edition 1 / Page 12
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12 SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 2004 Housekeeper questions dismissal BY BRIAN HUDSON ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR May 27 Members of UE Local 150, the union representing employees at UNC-Chapel Hill, have announced a campaign to reinstate Bill Shuler, who was alleg edly fired in retaliation for bringing attention to worksite hazards. LiCHTYk*^ Unique jewelry and accessories (fCvjjl Fabulous gifts and crafts vy u(@)i ..((SS)) {(s§)} ~ ■ ■ \ j U UjU J j. I forZO°/ooff ‘j I. ' I I I Ik .1 I l\l \ ' • I ■r ■ i \ ■ -Voted' Best in the Triangle" three-years rr a row' - CONNECTING UNC-Chapel Hill f’rjt)uke University All students, faculty and staff are invited to ride the Robertson Express Bus between Duke & UNC-Chapel Hill. It's free every day for everybody! Buses depart from and arrive at the Morehead Planetarium (UNC-Chapel Hill) and Duke Chapel (Duke). Imagine the possibilities. .. Enroll in a class at Duke University jfr sk 1 Attend a performance during Broadway at Duke series Take a stroll around the Sarah P. Duke Cardens Cos for a hike in Duke Forest Make friends with a Blue Devil! To find out more about a wide variety of events taking place at Duke University, visit http://calendar.duke.edu For the 2004-2005 bus schedule and information about enrolling in classes at Duke, visit www.robertsonscholars.org/collaboration Robertson SCHOLARS PROGRAM Shuler, a former UNC house keeper, was terminated May 19, one day before officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations inspected the University in response to a com plaint filed by Shuler. Shuler’s complaint to OSHA was in response to a newly imple- Welcome Beck mented cleaning agent which had allegedly caused health problems for several housekeepers. “I personally know employees went to (the Ambulatory Care Center) coughing up blood, with nose bleeds.” Shuler said he first brought attention to the issue in a December meeting with Peter Reinhardt, director of the UNC CH Department of Environment, Health and Safety. “We just told him it was a prob lem, and people were getting sick,” Shuler said. He said that Reinhardt attrib uted this to improper use of the product. “The meetings were to no avail, he did not believe it was as serious as it was.” Reinhardt said he was not involved in Shuler’s termination nor was he aware of the grounds for which he was fired. He added than an OSHA inves tigation is not an extraordinary occurance. “OSHA did not reveal to me why they initiated this visit,” he said, new,.hip, fresh... flowers * ■ v_, bota n i c a now open in. university square (next to granville towers) 968-1112 explaining that this is the third visit OSHA made to UNC this year. Shuler said he appealed to Laurie Charest, UNC-CH’s asso ciate vice chancellor for human resources, and Leslie Winner, general counsel to UNC-system president Molly Broad, before submitting a complaint to OSHA on May 10. According to letters from his supervisor Leo Rapley, Shuler was notified of disciplinary action May 18 and notified of his termination the next day. OSHA officials made their compliance review May 20. Attempts by The Daily Ihr Heel to reach Rapley were unsuccess ful. With help from UE Local 150 and several UNC-CH groups, Shuler is pursuing legal action after being fired for what he said is a retaliation for speaking out He said he is seeking reinstate ment as well as disciplinary action against supervisors who target whistleblowers. In addition, he wants the remov al of the chemicals and employee health screenings. Shuler is also petitioning the University to revise the process in which employees file grievances. He said he was not allowed to offer a rebuttal on the incidents for which he was fired. Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu. Welcome Back Students! Don’t miss 15% off all dry mounting now until September 12th. Hr J \JL~3* rwv mqunTtß like priit ilnp • the triangle's spot for prints • custom framing • dry mounting university mqll • chapel hill • 942-7306 ySTOCK hEXCHANGE Off Retail ' ■ ■ .1... 431 W. Fraiiklin Street, across from t hcCurolina Brcweru) 919-967-4035 - Southern Site files bankruptcy BY BRIAN HUDSON ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR June 24 Southern Site Environmental, a subcontractor hired for the demolition of UNC’s Medical Sciences Research Building, filed for bankruptcy protection after not receiving fidl payment for their services, company officials claim. Tim Gabriel, the company’s project manager for the endeavor, said that later this week the com pany will be filing at least a $1 million lawsuit related to both the payment disputes and allegations that the work site was hazardous to the workers. “The lawsuit is based on fail ure of the University to provide a clean building based on the con tract,” Gabriel said, “delays in the performance of our job because of the state of the building, and the hazardous materials in place.” He said, according to its con tract SSE workers were not to be exposed to hazardous materials. Gabriel also said the University failed to account for the company’s conditional costs incurred because of delays, which amount to several hundred thousand dollars. He said company officials want to sue both the University and TA. Loving, the University’s contractor because, Gabriel said, “in our opin ion there was a conspiracy and a übr oaili| Ear lirri violation of federal law and a viola tion of state law.” Peter Reinhardt, UNC’s director of environment, health and safety said he is confident that UNC took all appropriate steps to provide a safe environment “All that work was done prior to the interior demolition by SSE,” he said. “Furthermore, they were spe cifically told not to go near those containers. “They should not have been exposed to any hazardous waste.” SSE came under scrutiny early this year after removing two con tainers of waste from the construc tion site. In the fall University officials enlisted another subcontrac tor, Quantum Environmental, to remove the building’s *P traps,” the pipes from under the sinks in laboratories. Quantum Environmental was instructed to place the hazardous materials in containers that later would be removed from the site.By January, the containers had not been removed, and when SSE completed its work, workers removed the con tainers and sent a sample to be tested in a New Jersey laboratory. The removal of the chemicals spurred intervention from the N.C. Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, as Southern Site & Environmental was not authorized to transport the material Gabriel said in an interview with The Daily Tar Heel in April that officials had made numerous requests to the University for the removal of the materials. Reinhardt explained in April that officials had been unable to reach the site in order to remove the materials. “The person who was respon sible for picking them up was unable to get there,” he said at the time. “The construction site was extremely busy and congested.” Reinhardt said Ihesday that the University has worked to ensure that a similar situation won’t occur again. “We have taken several steps already to make sure in the future all our hazardous wastes are col lected promptly.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu Freshman kills self on campus Student related to former chancellor BY BRIAN HUDSON ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR May 13 UNC freshman Simon Carlyle Sitterson IV died late last month, the result of an apparent suicide. His body was found by a University employee at about 7 a.m. April 23 in a gravel parking lot outside Forest Theatre, accord ing to police reports. Randy Young, spokesman for UNC’s Department of Public Safety, said officials are treating the matter as a suicide, and they do not suspect foul play. The cause ofhis death was a gun shot wound to the head, according to the state medical examiner’s office. Young said that because Sitterson, 18, was not reported as a missing person, campus police are not aware of the conditions that led to his death. Sitterson, known as Si, was a freshman and a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. He was bom in Charlotte and he graduated from Woodberry Forest School in Woodberry Forest, Va. in 2003, where he was a member of the football and lacrosse teams. Attempts to contact Sitterson’s family were unsuccessful. Sitterson was a relative of the late Joseph Carlyle Sitterson, a former professor and UNC’s chan cellor from 1.966 until 1972. Simon Sitterson’s memorial service was held April 26 at Duke University Chapel. Members ofhis fraternity and high school acted as honorary pallbearers. A grave side service was held April 27 in Kinston. Simon Sitterson is survived by his brother Stuart Page Sitterson; his parents, Page Nichols Sitterson and Simon Carlyle Sitterson, III; as well as his his maternal grand mother, Norma Barringer; and his paternal grandfather, Simon Carlyle Sitterson, Jr. Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Aug. 21, 2004, edition 1
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