Yale classes start amid strike

? The first day of classes at Yale University was a lesson in frustration for Erica Newbury.

She searched building after building Wednesday for a public health class moved off campus by the instructor, who did not want to cross the picket lines of striking clerical, technical, service and maintenance workers.

“There were tons of picketing employees, and I couldn’t find the right building,” said Newbury, a graduate student in biostatistics. “It was just ridiculous.”

Most classes took place in their assigned classrooms Wednesday, and Yale asked professors and teaching assistants not to move them. Some instructors said they would give students a chance to orient themselves, then would move classes off campus next week.

“I felt a little bad about it, but I have to go to class,” said Sherrise Pond, a sophomore from New York who crossed the picket line Wednesday.

The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union is helping set up classrooms in churches, theaters, restaurants and municipal buildings near campus.

“We’re not trying to take sides in the labor dispute, but we do recognize it would be morally and ethically difficult to have students cross picket lines to get an education,” said Mark Schlesinger, a public health professor who moved his Wednesday class to a church hall just off campus.

As the strike entered its second week, university and union leaders met for about two hours in informal negotiations facilitated by Mayor John DeStefano Jr. The sides planned to meet again today.

“I think both sides are trying hard and are trying to reconcile what it will take to settle this,” DeStefano said.

Thousands of members of Locals 34 and 35 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International went on strike a week ago, seeking new contracts with larger pensions, higher wages and improved job security.

Yale officials said their latest eight-year contract offer was generous, with pay raises of 3 percent to 5 percent, pension benefit increases and signing bonuses.

Striking Yale workers and their supporters rally at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. More than 1,000 people participated in the Labor Day march and rally. The workers are seeking new contracts with higher pay and improved job security. Classes began Wednesday at Yale.