Harvard's Unions

Despite the prospect of a demonstration at today's Commencement ceremonies, there is no end in sight to the two-month-old strike of 36 Harvard printers and typesetters.

Even as Commencement approached, there was no end in sight to the two-month old strike of 36 Harvard printers and typesetters.

The workers, all members of the Graphic Arts International Union (GAIU), had hoped the prospect of a demonstration at Commencement would convince the University to meet their demands for higher wages before today.

The workers and their student supporters recall that the printers' other strike against Harvard, which occurred in 1967, was settled when Harvard granted the workers' demands for higher wages two days before Commencement.

But Harvard seems more willing to have the workers demonstrate at Commencement than to grant them higher wages.

For their part, the printers seem prepared to continue the strike well past Commencement.

Both sides agree that wages are the issue in this strike, which began April 9. Harvard has offered the printers a wage increase of 5 1/2 per cent over their last contract, which expired in November 1973. The printers have demanded increases of 10 per cent for their highest paid workers and 14 per cent for their lowest paid workers.

The five typesetters, who joined the strike on May 6, have not yet formulated any specific wage demands. They say they should receive a larger pay boost than the printers because they are farther behind area rates.

Both the printers and the typesetters claim that they are paid less than other workers in the Boston area who do work of similar quality. Their claims seem to be borne out by the figures.

The printers' wages, which range from about $150 to $240 per week, are about 20 per cent below the wages of other GAIU printers in the area who do similar work.

The wages of the typesetters, which range from about $110 to $130 per week, are about 25 per cent below the wages of typesetters in the area who do similar work.

The striking typesetters prepare their work for printing by a fairly new process known as cold-type. By this process, the workers use sophisticated IBM composition typewriters to record manuscripts on magnetic tape.

In addition to having lower wages than other cold-type workers in the Boston area, the typesetters have wages far below the hot-type workers at Harvard.

The nineteen hot-type workers at Harvard, all of whom are members of the International Typographical Union, are paid about $245 per week for working the day shift and about $260 per week for working the night shift. Hot-type is the traditional composition process which involves linotype.

John B. Butler, Harvard's director of personnel, does not dispute these wage statistics.

Butler, the University's sole spokesman on the strike, said on May 13, "the University does not feel it must pay its employees the same pay as other employees bargain for elsewhere."

He says Harvard's superior fringe benefits must be considered along with wage rates.

The workers say that Harvard's medical plan is superior, but the number of vacations and holidays permitted is less than or equal to the number given by other area employers. Overall, Harvard offers a slightly superior package of fringe benefits, but these do not come close to compensating for a wage deficiency of 20 to 25 per cent, the workers say.

In the case of the printers, Butler says the wages of Harvard printers should be compared to the wages of all printers, not just union printers.

But many non-union printers are either workers who lack enough skill to qualify for a union, or workers who have so much skill that they can command better wages in the open market than the union can negotiate. So, it seems difficult to compare wages for printers of fairly uniform skill levels to wages of non-union printers whose wages and skill levels range from one extreme to the other.

Adopting Butler's suggestion, one finds that real wages of all printing employees in the Boston area have in fact increased by an average of about 12 per cent per cent since 1968 while the real wages of Harvard printers have remained approximately constant during that period. Wages of area GAIU printers outside of Harvard increased about 7 per cent in the same period.

Union officials say that Harvard printers are not only behind other union printers but that they have also fallen behind non-union printers. Paul Golden, vice president of local 300 of the GAIU, said last week that the Harvard printers' wages are about 10 per cent below area rates for non-union workers.

Since the strike began, operations at the Harvard University Printing Office, where all of the striking printers are employed, have come to a virtual standstill. "There is damned little being done at the Printing Office these days," Butler said early last month.

According to Golden, the printing office is managing to handle about 5 to 10 per cent of its normal work load by using supervisory personnel.

Butler said on June 2 that the final examinations were "probably" printed outside the University at a non-union shop.

Golden said in April that it costs Harvard about 33 per cent more to have material printed at commercial shops than in its own normally-operating plant.

Using these figures and the fact that the printing office did about $2 million worth of business last year, Golden estimated the strike is costing Harvard about $12,000 per week in increased printing costs.

In addition, Harvard has hired three Boston policemen to guard the University Printing Office at a weekly cost of about $1500.

Despite costs all around, the workers have been well-financed during the course of the strike.

The GAIU is paying the typesetters 75 per cent of their usual before-tax wages. Since this payment is tax-free, the typesetters' take-home pay during the strike is close to the $110 to $130 per week they were paid when they were working.

The printers are not as well off, receiving only $70 to $80 a week from the GAIU while the strike goes on.

However, some of the printers' wives are now working, and many of the printers have taken part-time jobs for the duration of the strike. The printers are receiving some money from their local unions to help make ends meet.

The two GAIU locals involved in this strike, local 300 and local 16b, are well-organized groups headed by energetic, strong-willed men. Golden has coordinated the strike for local 300, which includes the lithographers and typesetters, while George Carlson, president of local 16b, has represented the book-binders.

The 36 members of the two locals, with the help of student supporters, have managed to maintain solid picket lines around the University for the past two months.

Student support for the strike, though not overwhelming in numbers, has been well-organized. Before exams began, about 70 students were joining the printers' pickets regularly. In addition, the student members of the Committee on Housing and Undergraduate Life unanimously endorsed a statement supporting the strike at their May 1 meeting. About 1500 students have signed a petition backing the strike, also.

The workers have welcomed student support throughout the strike. But this coalition is a diverse one and its members have often disagreed on the question of tactics.

Both the workers and student supporting group contain moderate and militant factions. Up to this point, the moderates have dominated the strike coalition, generally succeeding in restricting the tactics used to conventional ones, such as picketing, leafletting and discussion.

The militants have proposed obstructive picket lines and the disruption of Commencement ceremonies and other University events. However, the militants seem to have gained influence within the coalition since its representatives met with President Bok on May 17. After that meeting, Luther M. Ragin Jr. '76, commented: "The more moderate members of the coalition like myself have seen that the tactics of discussion, leafletting, and picketing we have advocated don't work with the University."

James G. Pope '73-4, another moderate, said two weeks ago that the coalition planned to carry out "a series of escalating actions" in the days leading up to and including Commencement.

He said the students planned to engage in picketing and leafletting at class reunion activities and at Commencement.

But, he said, as of last Tuesday, the coalition had not yet decided whether it would engage in other, more militant activities. He said the coalition was engaged at that time in a survey of the senior class to see how much support there was for the strike.

The support indicated by this survey, combined with the success the militants have in putting their point of view across within the coalition, will determine the likelihood of disruptive activities by the coalition today.

But the very prospect of a demonstration today--indicating that the workers and Harvard are still at odds--makes it appear that this will be a long strike.