Let Them Decide

THE Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) started organizing workers 16 years ago. Yesterday the union set in motion the process that will allow all campus support staff to pass a verdict on their efforts.

HUCTW filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), calling for an election. The NLRB requires that the union bring in signed support cards from 30 percent of eligible workers to qualify for an election, yet HUCTW leaders said they have already garnered signed cards from a majority of workers--which, if translated into votes, would be enough to win.

Now Harvard's 4000 support staff will finally have the opportunity to decide whether or not they want a union to represent them. But their right to make an uninhibited choice may not come as easily as it should.

THE average wait for an election is 60 days, during which time the NLRB defines which workers are eligible to vote as part of the union's potential "bargaining unit." But previous elections at Harvard have been delayed for up to two years by legal challenges from the University administration. During this election the administration is expected to erect legal stumbling blocks to delay the union campaign on whether research assistants or other categories of workers should be eligible to vote.

If the election is delayed past this spring employees don't stand to benefit. HUCTW has made attempts to contact every worker, and the administration plans to do the same--so campus awareness and debate over the issues are at an all-time high. But about one-third of all support staff leave their posts each year, most during the summer. The election must be held this spring so that the results will accurately reflect the opinion of an informed electorate.

The Harvard administration should allow for an immediate election for another reason--it would be on the terms it has set. In 1984 the administration won a federal suit with the NLRB forcing the union to enlarge its organizing area from the Medical Area's 700 workers to the entire campus's 4000. What was designed as a fatal blow to force the union to organize an area larger than it could handle turned into an organizing success--attracting wider attention and support for the cause.

Now that the administration has gotten its way, putting all conceivable barriers in front of the union, it is high time to let the employees make their own choice. When filing its election petition yesterday, the union defined the bargaining unit in the same terms as the administration used in the past, to avoid further legal conflict. Harvard should abide by its own rules, as well.

IN the two past elections that have been held among Harvard support staff, the administration has deployed a variety of tactics to dissuade workers from backing the union, including meetings held during work hours and personal letters from President Bok and other top administrators. Last week the administration started to meet with employees about the union.

But such advice from above can do more harm than good. The union and 1000 students have called on Harvard to remain "neutral" in the upcoming election, by not taking an anti-union stance. While it is too late for the administration to take a believably "neutral" position, since the University has already made it quite clear which side it stands on, it is not too late for Harvard to step back.

Administrators should not continue meeting with employees, which may pressure and intimidate workers. Employees should be able to get information about both sides of the issue so they can make an informed decision. But the University administration--in effect, their boss--should not act like it has already made that decision for them.

Harvard should neither prolong nor confuse the issue any longer. Let the workers decide.