Shalala pressed on labor dispute

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Donna E. Shalala, the University of Miami president and a former Clinton administration official, is under increasing pressure from former congressional Democrats to intervene in a dispute between janitors and the contractor for which they work.

Nine janitors yesterday were in the ninth day of a hunger strike at the university.

Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and former Rep. David Bonior of Michigan have appealed to Miss Shalala to allow card-check recognition for 425 janitors at the university to end the dispute.

"This is about getting her attention," said Mr. Bonior, who heads American Rights at Work, a nonprofit workers' rights advocacy group.

Card check allows workers to join a union once a majority sign cards asking for representation.

Unicco Services Co., the Boston company that employs janitors at the university, has said it will allow a union vote, but only through a secret-ballot election sponsored by the National Labor Relations Board.

Under NLRB rules, the employer chooses the voting procedure. Miss Shalala hasn't taken a position on which method to use in a referendum, leaving the decision to Unicco.

"We decided this is an issue between the contractor and the employees," said Sergio Gonzalez, vice president for advancement at the University of Miami.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which hopes to organize 15,000 janitors nationwide this year, said Miss Shalala is not an impartial observer because she wields enormous influence over any contractor hired by the university.

"The very person who holds the health and human safety of these people in her hands is Donna Shalala," SEIU President Andrew Stern said.