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Student-run publication serving the San Francisco State community since 1927
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VOLUME LXXXXVII • ISSUE 11
San Francisco awakens Day of the Dead tradition San Francisco’s Mission District has celebrated Día de los Muertos for more than 30 years. Nov. 2 is reserved every year for the festivities. SEE PAGE
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Merger talks brush student center custodians aside
T
HE merging of
with the
Students, Inc. looms overhead leaving the custodians of the student center — and employs the custodians. However, the planned merger to create means their employer will no longer exist. “We want to speak to (the University) authorities face to ing member of Teamster Local 856 and former steward of the custodians. “We want a draft like they provided for the vendors.” The current proposal shows operations and programming in the building, and the University assumes the rest, including vendors. The plan, according to the University, is that the custodians will now be University employees, but that puts their jobs and will need to be represented by one of the University’s other employee unions that may have different agreements. However, no formal offer has been presented to the custodians.
ggonzale@mail.sfsu.edu
Teamsters is a nationwide union that represents about 1.4 million workers in labor negotiations. “Our members wish to maintain represented by Teamsters,” the facility for 22 years. “However, we are open to dialogue with the authorities, if and only if, our seniority, years of service, our desire to work in the same respected.” coworkers feel frustrated because they haven’t been treated the same as the vendors in the student center, who have already been presented with a plan — even though many of the custodians have worked for the student center for more than 20 years. They are especially worried they might lose their seniority — and possibly face layoffs — along with a loss of their ees have already vested in their pension plan, which means that their employer has contributed to their retirement plans. The custodians don’t know if they are going to have to opt out of that pension and start anew, nor do they know how many years it might take them to be vested in a new one.
Missed buzzer beater hands victory to Div. I St. John’s treyaw@mail.sfsu.edu
For the SF State men’s basketball team, Saturday’s preseason game against St. John’s University boiled down to a last second shot With the game on the line, the ball didn’t quite hit its mark, but the Gators ultimately proved to their Division I opponent and everyone else watching, that they are serious contenders this season. for the nationally televised match-up with St. tournament appearances coached by SF State alum and past Gator basketball player Steve Lavin. The Gators, undeterred by their own Division II status, came out looking less like underdogs and more like equals during the
closely-contested game. defense sides and led for a large part of the second half before ultimately losing. SJU won 82-80. “It was a great experience for us,” SF State coach Paul Trevor said. “Our guys came out and played hard. We have a lot of seniors and they really showed a lot of resiliency.” ing last year due to a broken arm. The guard’s team-high 23 points and 4-for-7 shooting from be“I was excited to play after being off for a whole year, and I wanted to win,” Perdomo