Lunchtime visitors to the Washington D.C., office of T. Rowe Price--and all other passersby--got more than financial advice when they walked past the building Feb. 17. They were handed fliers asking why James S. Riepe, a high-level executive at the company, opposes the practice of democracy at the University of Pennsylvania.

With the help of the national AFT, Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania (GET-UP) targeted the downtown T. Rowe Price office in the nation's capital as part of a ratcheting up of the AFT-affiliated group's campaign to form a union. GET-UP has been trying to get a union on campus for two and a half years. Just under a year ago, the graduate employees held an election authorized by the National Labor Relations Board, but an appeal filed by the university brought the process to a standstill. The union now is waging a campaign asking the university to allow the votes to be counted and to recognize the right of the 1,000 graduate employees to be represented by a union.

Riepe is chairman of the University of Pennsylvania UP's board of trustees and vice chair and vice president of the T. Rowe Price Group. As part of the observance of the anniversary of GET-UP's election, AFT had leaflets passed out at T. Rowe Price Investment Services Division sites nationwide.  The fliers asked why Riepe is "opposed to workers' right to form unions and bargain collectively." On the back side of the sheet was a description of the multibillion dollar enterprise that is the University of Pennsylvania and the crucial role graduate employees play in providing education within that enterprise.  [Lindsay Albert]

[Feb. 20, 2004]