UNITED THEY STAND

Now that the State has ponderously stepped in, decided upon and conducted an election among the workers, Harvard may have a little peace and quiet. The tense is conditional because the State is still unconvinced that Harvard has not been guilty of unfair labor practices and that the election was legal.

Adequate steps were never taken to correct the initial impression that the University favored the Representative Association. Indeed this impression rapidly became a conviction in the minds of caretakers and chambermaids. Janitors and other men in positions of responsibility did not hesitate to urge membership in the H. U. E. R. A. and to reward members with little favors. The A. F. of L., on the other hand, lost no time in branding their rival as a company dominated union and pointing out to bewildered waitresses the inequity of such an organization. The University, it is apparent, did not foster the Representative Association, but by neglecting to discipline its employees and letting Cypress Hall Ciceros go unchecked, it fostered a good bit of misinformation.

Yet if the workers were moved by these erroneous reports, they were influenced much more by self-interest. To kitchen and dining-hall workers, young, rapidly becoming proficient at their jobs, desirous of summer jobs now and better winter jobs later on, the American Federation of Labor had much to offer, whereas membership in an inside union would have proved a drawback. For the other groups, older, on the whole better off, anchored to Cambridge by families and real estate, there was little in and international brotherhood to compensate for its high dues. It is significant, too, that those who most trusted the University were those who had worked for it the longest.

Despite this trust, however, which stood out in strong contrast to the A. F. of L.'s antagonism toward employers, scarcely any of the workers chose not to be represented by a union. It is no longer fashionable to be at the mercy of even a benevolent employer. The University should be glad that its employee relations are once more in tune with the times; and undergraduates, the indirect employers, will have to learn at first hand that important economic lesson that efficiency, high standards, and contented employees cost money--and are worth it.