District 65 Begins Round Two

Three years ago, Medical Area clerical and technical workers sported buttons reading, "We can't eat prestige." Yesterday, a large number of Med Area employees indicated that they're still hungry.

A revitalized District 65 of the United Auto Workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) yesterday for the right to hold an election which, if successful, would empower the union to represent Med Area clerical and technical personnel.

Given the history of District 65's dealings with Harvard--it lost a testy campaign in 1977 by a 436-346 vote, when it was affiliated with Distributive Workers of America--the union and the University are in for a renewed, lengthy strugggle.

For the NLRB to approve the union's request, the board must determine that 30 per cent of the workers desire an election. In addition, the NLRB must rule that employees comprise a distinct "community of interests."

In 1977, the NLRB took University attorneys aback by deciding that Med Area personnel did in fact compose a distinct group. At the time, Harvard lawyers felt sure the board would agree with their stance that the bargaining unit would be inappropriate because their interests were the same as the rest of the University's secretaries and technicians.

University officials strongly fear the consequences of recognizing District 65, provided the NLRB again calls for an election and the union can turn the 45 swing votes from 1977 in its favor. Administrators privately express doubts about the union's credibility, despite its new affiliation with UAW.

But the fundamental reservation Harvard has centers on the problem of multiplying and fragmented bargaining units. Currently, all 3500 or so clerical and technical workers share the same benefit structure, and administrators predict an uneven distribution of benefits if District 65 succeeds.

Accordingly, even if the NLRB approves the petition and the union wins the election, Harvard will probably simply refuse to recognize District 65, forcing the UAW affiliate to take Harvard to court.

Perhaps the most severe reservation held by Harvard is the possibility of a chain reaction. If District 65 is victorious, its success may trigger other Harvard clerical and technical employees to start a unionizing drive of their own. Such a campaign could result in a bargaining unit seven to eight times larger than the University's biggest union--the Harvard University Employees Representatives Association, which has only 550 members.

If administrators' darkest fears came true, fragmented bargaining units could limit mobility among clerical and technical workers in all parts of the University, and, as one administration source said this week, could make strikes more likely.

Last April, Douglas Fraser, president of UAW, visited the School of Public Health and told the District 65 organizing committee, "It's my experience that we can get them the second time around."

Not many of Fraser's units have had to contend with Harvard's arsenal of attorneys, but for now at least, union organizers are optimistic.

As one Med Area secretary explained, "After all the filing we do for doctors and administrators, it's about time we filed something of our own."