Harvard Official Answers SDS on Painter Program

A Harvard official yesterday explained the painters' helper program and gave the administration's answers to recent charges by SDS.

In September. 1968, Harvard began hiring painters' helpers in addition to jour-neymen painters to give jobs and training to "hard core disadvantaged-both black and white," William Murphy, director of Buildings and Grounds, said yesterday.

"We wanted to get more blacks and poor whites on our payroll, but they weren't qualified to be hired as journeymen." Murphy said. "So we began the helpers training program." Harvard had previously hired only journeymen.

Under the helper program, unskilled or semi-skilled workers learn painter skills over a three year period, at the end of which they become journeymen. Harvard now employs 13 helpers, seven of them black, and 27 journeymen, three of them black. Helpers are paid from 43c to 86c less per hour than journeymen.

Three-Year Program

Although the program is designed to last three years, Murphy said that helpers may be promoted as soon as they learn the required skills. "I will be rather disappointed if the helpers don't become journeymen before three years," Murphy said.

SDS has charged that the helpers' program is racist, and claims that blacks are hired as helpers instead of as higher-paid journeymen even when they have two to five years experience as painters.

"That's just not true." Murphy replied, in answer to the charge. "Experience is always taken into account and classification has nothing to do with race."

But regardless of how much experience a man claims to have had, Murphy said, the paint-crew foreman classifies him on the basis of an interview and by observ-ing his painting skills. To be classified as a journeyman, a painter must have mastered color-mixing, staining, graining, and other essential painting techniques.

Helpers are promoted on the basis of the foreman's judgment. "We don't care whether the helper is black or white-he's promoted because of his performance," Murphy said.

Murphy said Harvard has hired only three black journeymen because "trained black painters are just not available. If a qualified black painter came in today we would hire him directly as a journeyman," he added.

Same Work, Less Pay

SDS has demanded that all helpers be promoted to the higher-paid journeyman category. They claim that helpers and journeymen do the same work and, therefore, should earn the same wage.

Murphy said the journeymen are far more skilled in mixing paint, staining, graining, and other painting skills, although he admitted they do substantially the same work.

"If they continued to do menial helper's work, how could they advance? In order to become journeymen they must do journeymen's work," he added.

A journeyman said, "Promoting all helpers would be an insult to me and I wouldn't stand for it."