Harvard Initiates Parking Charges; Workers Protest

Beginning Monday, Harvard will charge Faculty members and employees from $10 to $90 per year to park on University property. Harvard employees have objected strongly to the new plan, and the Allied Crafts Maintenance Council, which represents Harvard workers, has advised its members to refuse to pay for parking space.

"The revenue from these parking fees is needed to construct five new multilevel parking garages," James T. Sullivan, Harvard University parking manager, said yesterday.

Many Harvard employees and their unions have reacted with anger to the new plan. "This should have been a subject for bargaining when we negotiated our contract last spring," James A. Damery, a spokesman for the 40-member Harvard Painters' Council, said yesterday. "But the University never brought it up."

Damery has recommended that his members ignore the new rule until a settlement is negotiated.

In response, Sullivan said that employees who refuse to pay the parking fee will be fined $10 for each violation.

Harvard now has 4800 parking spaces, of which 1900 are rented to students at $70 per academic year. The University expects to raise an additional $500,000 annually from the rental of the remaining 2900 spaces.