Another Setback

Seven months after the vote, the results of the Medical Area unionization election finally became official this week.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional director Robert W. Fuchs upheld the 390-328 loss of United Auto Worker affiliate District 65, rejecting the recommendation of an NLRB hearing officer who had called for a new election in August.

The vote last April 9 was the latest attempt by District 65, which has been organizing in the Med Area since 1974, to represent the 850 clerical and technical workers at the Medical School and the School of Public Health.

The union's attorneys filed charges of illegal conduct during the spring campaign, accusing Harvard of unfairly influencing the election's outcome. Neither University lawyers nor union organizers expected the NLRB to find in favor of District 65.

Then, last August, hearing officer Maria C. Walsh called for a new vote on the grounds that unlawful statements made by two Med Area supervisors may have unduly affected voters. The move took both sides by surprise.

Fuchs, however, overturned Walsh's recommendation. While he agreed that some statements made to eligible voters violated labor law, he did not think those statements had significant impact to justify a new election.

The union has one avenue of legal appeal still open--it can request the NLRB's federal offices to review Fuchs' decision. But union organizers indicated this week that they would not exercise that option, preferring instead to file with the NLRB in February for the right to hold another election in April.

All autumn, District 65 has maintained its organizing efforts in the Med Area under the assumption that Walsh's decision would stand and another vote would be taken. The union was defeated in its first representation bid in 1977.

Rather than stake their hopes on a potentially cumbersome and drawnout review in Washington, union organizers believe they can easily gain the right to a third election and then have a good chance to prevail.

University attorneys this week voiced approval of Fuchs' decision. Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, said the NLRB's director's ruling was correct "both as a matter of law and as a matter of common sense."

Kris Rondeau, one of District 65's chief organizers in the Med Area, called the decision "shocking, bad news," but expressed confidence that the union could win representation on a possible third vote next spring.