Local 26 Awaits HUCTW Contract With Hopes of Its Own

Two years ago, when the seven male-dominated unions on Harvard's campus gave their support to the organizing campaign of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), many observers viewed it as a great boon for the fledgling support staff union.

Today, those seven unions are watching HUCTW as it negotiates its first contract with the University, and waiting to see what gains HUCTW can make for all of Harvard's employees.

In several areas--notably health insurance, pensions and child care--any agreement which HUCTW makes with the University will apply to all of Harvard's employees, administrators say.

Because of the timing of HUCTW's contract, one union in particular--Local 26, the representative for the University's dining hall employees--is anxiously awaiting the outcome of the support staff contract.

The dining hall workers' current agreement expires on June 19, and they have begun to negotiate their next contract with the University.

But Local 26 leader Domenic M. Bozzotto says he is waiting to see what kind of package the clerical workers get before broaching such issues as pensions and family policy with the University.

"Whatever changes come out of the clerical workers' negotiations, everyone will benefit," Bozzotto says. "I have made a conscious decision to allow them to complete their negotiations and not muddy the water by also bringing up pensions and child care."

In its negotiations this summer, Local 26 will emphasize issues such as workload, job description and sick days, Bozzotto says.

One area in particular stands out as a potential benchmark of change at Harvard--the likely HUCTW agreement on changes in child care. "HUCTW has led the way," Bozzotto says, and Local 26 will wait to see what kind of progress HUCTW makes before deciding on their own demands.

"I've been negotiating for seven years," Bozzotto says. "And I marvel at the way Kris Rondeau, [HUCTW's director], and her staff have handled these negotiations. What they come up with will definitely be a model."

Bozzotto says that during this year's negotiations, he has found it easier to work with the University's administration. He credits Rondeau with encouraging the administration to have a more open mind in negotiations.

He says that because Harvard has been more agreeable in negotiations, Local 26 has not been as "boisterous" or militant as it has been in previous years.

"We saw a far less confrontational scene," Bozzotto says. "As much as I hate to say it, Harvard has a lot to do with the fact that we aren't as noisy and outgoing as we usually are at this point in negotiations. I give them credit."

In addition, Rondeau has forced other union leaders out of their negotiating ruts because of her innovative style, Bozzotto says.

"Some of us get so jaded negotiating and tend to use what works for us individually over and over again, until we find ourselves in a rut. She has commanded our attention in our negotiating ruts and said it's time to reevaluate," Bozzotto says.

Bozzotto describes Rondeau's style and approach as atypical in terms of the traditional labor movement.

First, the contract negotiations began with "transition teams" which did not negotiate specific issues, but worked to remove any animosity that might remain from the long organizing campaign.

Second, HUCTW's negotiations have been broken into eight small negotiating tables, each responsible for a narrow topic such as pensions or salary structure.

"Kris has broken down these committees and motivated people to have two attention spans," one to their narrow topic and another to the negotiations as a whole, Bozzotto says. "Without a doubt it's working because if it weren't they'd be at each other's throats."

Some labor experts attribute the labor movement's resurging momentum to the increased number of women in unions--they are, according to experts, initiating new formulas to old problems. And because Rondeau and her 83 percent female union have taken an active stand in molding new forms of collective bargaining, other parts of the labor movement--including the traditional, mostly male unions at Harvard--will be forced to respond.

"Women are more involved because they've see how successful Kris has been. That definitely wouldn't have happened if a man had been running that local," Bozzotto says.