Agreement is Near on Pact For Harvard Kitchen Workers

The University and representatives of kitchen workers in the Harvard dining halls have ironed out a final contract proposal following more than two months of on-and-off negotiations. The contract awaits ratification by the union rank and file later this month.

According to the terms of the proposal, agreed upon during the final negotiating session last week, the workers will get a 25-cent per hour pay increase retroactive to June 22, and a total 50-cent per hour boost over the two-year life of the pact.

The workers had originally requested a larger retroactive pay hike and an 18-month contract.

'Significant Gains'

"I think we won a lot of significant gains," Alan Balsam, chief shop steward for Local 26 of the Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Employees Union, said yesterday. "Some people felt the offer was not really what we were looking for, but I think that our differences are not that great to merit further action."

Edward W. Powers, associate general counsel for employee relations and Harvard's chief labor negotiator, yesterday declined to comment on the status of the contract negotiations or the proposal, except to say that "if he [Balsam] says it's worked out, I wouldn't disagree with his characterization."

Powers says he foresees "no real problems" in finalizing an agreement.

According to Balsam, the union rank and file met last Tuesday to discuss the final Harvard proposal, and will reconvene on September 29 to hold a ratification vote on the pact.

The contract negotiations began on June 3, the same day Harvard announced it was suspending three shop stewards--including Balsam--for their roles in a May lunch-hour walkout. That action followed a dispute between Balsam and the manager of the College Dining Hall over the serving of hamburgers.

The University contract proposal also includes a new "health and safety" clause, which would protect workers from potentially hazardous job assignments, and what Balsam characterized as a "Miranda clause."

That clause would force dining hall supervisors to advise workers faced with disciplinary action of their right to have a union representative present during any discussion of their infraction or punishment.

Holcombe Suspension

The latter two items emerged largely as a result of the dispute surrounding the suspension of Radcliffe dining hall shop steward Sherman Holcombe last February. Holcombe's suspension, later lifted by the University, raised serious questions concerning the fairness of the University's internal employee grievance process.

Holcombe was an outspoken critic of the non-posting of available dining hall jobs, which he said permitted favoritism on the part of some managers and discrimination against black and minority workers. The new contract would require the posting of all available jobs for seven days prior to their being filled.

The proposal also includes three so-