Both Sides of Union Drive Prepare for Workers' Vote

On February 22, amid floating balloons and descending banners in Cambridge's First Baptist Church, the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) announced that a majority of the University's 4000 support staff members had handed signed pieces of paper to the union. Pieces of paper which are the first step in determining whether Harvard's clerical and technical workers--the people who assist professors and work in labs and administrative offices--will have a union.

At the same time, in a small office in Holyoke Center, two full-time University administrators were continuing to prepare strategies to convince those support staff workers that a union would not be in their best interest.

Union organizers and Harvard administrators say that they do not plan to accelerate their campaigning in earnest until HUCTW files its election cards, the next step in having a campus-wide union vote. But, in the past two weeks, by all accounts, campaigning on both sides has become much more vocal.

The University's union campaign strategist Anne H. Taylor, has sent two letters to clerical and technical employees since the rally at which majority support was announced. She has also begun holding discussion meetings for support staff.

Last week, President Bok, who has remained largely silent on the union issue, said that he supports the rights of employees to unionize, but he believes the University should have the right to conduct an informational campaign to insure that employees are fully educated about the issue.

Administrators, who have been holding meetings with supervisors since January, say they began convening such informational sessions with the much larger pool of staff members last week. The purpose of the meetings, says Taylor, is "to let people ask any questions they might have."

Employees who attended a meeting in the Holyoke Center and asked not to be identified, say however, that Taylor talked for most of the meeting, and that few questions were asked.

In the past few weeks, the union has lined up an impressive list of endorsements. First civil rights leader Coretta Scott King penned a personal letter to support staff backing HUCTW's parent union. Then, two weeks later, Rep. Barney Frank '62 (D.-Mass.), wrote his own letter supporting the union and criticizing the University's anti-union status. Frank--who first coined the phrase "it's not anti-Harvard to be pro-union"--has pledged to speak on campus in favor of the union.

In addition, Kris Rondeau, the director of HUCTW, solicited support from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Jr. '54 (D-Mass.) and his nephew Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-Mass.), both of whom agreed to support the union.

Student groups around campus, led by Phillips Brooks House's Committee for Economic Change (CEC), a student organization which has always offered active support to HUCTW, are signing a petition which urges the University to remain neutral. The petition specifically asks Harvard not to engage in anti-union activities and not to delay the union election.

Kimberly F. Ladin '87-'88, co-chairman of CEC, attended an Undergraduate Council meeting last week, and asked the council to consider the neutrality petition.

But according to those involved, these skirmishes between HUCTW and the University will take a different form in the coming months--in a mostly legal fight over how soon a union vote can be scheduled.

HUCTW says they have enough cards to petition for an election any time they want. But at this point, the union hasn't played any of those cards, waiting until the most strategic time for a worker referendum.

"I have promised them that we would file for election in March," says Rondeau, adding that after filing, the union organizers hope they will get an election within 30 days.

But Taylor said in a letter distributed to employees last week that it was "highly unlikely" that such an early election date would be scheduled.

The legal wranglings would likely occur before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The board is responsible for determining whether the employees which HUCTW has organized constitute a legitimate bargaining unit. The University has the right to contest the bargaining unit, and has done so in the past. If the University does contest the unit size, the election could be postponed for several months.

Rondeau says the union wants an election before Commencement. If there is no litigation the election will occur within 60 days.

However, Taylor says that the administration feels the pre-election process may take longer than expected because of the legal complexity of a large bargaining unit located at a private university. Taylor will not say whether the University plans to contest the unit or not.

Both Taylor and Rondeau agree that campaigning will intensify during the period between the filing of the petition and the election.

They say that they are not going to concentrate their energy on campaigning before then, but the past two weeks have shown an increase in both pro- and anti-union campaigning.

Said one support staff member, "I am scared to see what will happen when both sides really start pushing."