Police Union, University Sign 3-Year Contract

Harvard and the University police union last week agreed on a new contract after more than a year of bargaining. But union representatives said the three-year contract, approved in December by a narrow margin, left many of the union's requests unsatisfied, according to Joseph L. Dwyer, president of the Harvard Police Association, an autonomous union.

Dwyer cited increases in pensions, sick and disability pay as issues he would have liked to see addressed in the contract.

The contract, retroactive to January 1, 1983, raises the salaries of patrolmen eight percent during the first year of its enactment, six percent in the second year, and five percent in the third. The last three-year contract, which expired at the end of 1982, provided annual raises of 10, 9, and 8 percent.

The contract will raise the average pay for the 40 patrolmen on the force from just under $19,000 to more than $23,000.

But University Police Captain Jack W. Morse characterized the settlement as "equitable."

He said, "The meetings weren't acrimonious, all the issues were addressed, and we went away feeling there was a good bargain struck by all. Nobody can ever get everything he wants."

Morse added that lengthy negotiations between the University and the police union are "historic" and "give a chance for all to be heard."

Edward W. Powers, associate general counsel for employee relations and Harvard's chief labor negotiator, agreed with Morse that it is "not unusual" for contract bargaining to last so long. "I don't remember it taking more than a year before, but it has gone a year in the past," Powers said.

Powers added he did not see any reason to alter the long-negotiated and mutually agreed upon contract. "From time to time, the University has made improvements during the course of the contract," he said.

Dwyer said he could not speculate on the increase of benefit payments in future contracts because, by the time of the next negotiations, the current union representatives' terms will have expired. "They'll be the ones who decide on what happens next," Dwyer said.