Worker Files Charge

A carpenter fired by his contracting firm has filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board charging Harvard caused his dismissal after suspecting that he met with a reporter.

Timothy S. Griffin, a carpenter and member of the Carpenters Local Union 40 who often did work at Harvard over the past year, was fired in late April by General Building Services Corporation. In his complaint, filed May 19, Griffin accuses Harvard of violating the National Labor Relations Act by pressing the contractor to release him.

Carolyn R. Young '76, Harvard's associate director of labor relations, denied Griffin's charge. She said Griffin was fired by the contractor because of performance problems and that Harvard had no part in his dismissal.

"The charges as I understand them have no merit," she said. "We didn't have communication with the company about it."

Lenny Bissen, General Building Services' general superintendent, did not return calls this week.

A hearing of Griffin's evidence was originally scheduled for June 3 but has been rescheduled for next week, according to Griffin.

Griffin has said he was first told he was no longer welcome to work at Harvard by Tom McCurtian, a facilities and maintenance official, because facilities and maintenance officials thought Griffin and his business agent had met with a Crimson reporter.

"He said... "I'm sending you back to GBS [General Building Services] at the end of the week because you brought your business agent and some girl reporter to Adams House to talk about non-union [construction]. I was flabbergasted," Griffin said.

Griffin said he was then fired a few days later by General Building Services with no explanation.

The Crimson did not have such a meeting with Griffin and the Local 40 business agent, Mark L. Ehrlich. A female reporter did, however, meet with Ehrlich and two other members of the union in April at an eatery near Adams House.

Ehrlich said the contractor told him Griffin was fired because General Building Services had too little work at the time to find Griffin another job.

Griffin denied having any performance or personality conflicts at the University, citing the jobs he was frequently given by facilities and maintenance officials before his dismissal.

"[Since] last July, I worked at all of the upperclass houses," he said. "I had plenty of work--it wasn't my performance, which they're bringing up now. I did a quality job for a reasonable price."

Ehrlich said Griffin has always before been skillful, hardworking and personable.

"He has a special contract with Harvard to do a lot of maintenance work," Ehrlich said. "These problems were never raised in the past nine months. It's illegal to fire someone [for meeting with a reporter]."

Griffin said he believes he was fired because he was outspokenly pro-union and because he had voiced a negative opinion about the maintenance work being done on upperclass houses.

He said Robert L. Mortimer, who is associate director for building services in the Office of Physical Resources, has been having considerable problems with upperclass house maintenance because he has hired inferior labor.

"He has his own team there of non-union contractors," said Griffin. "It seems he just wanted these contractors...who were doing unbelievably horrible work. The safety of the work that goes on in these buildings is atrocious."

McCurtian and Mortimer could not be reached for comment.

Young defended Harvard's conduct in the case.

"I think there is a larger agenda here, which has to do with union representatives aggressively seeking more work for the people they represent," she said. "I believe this is in part prompting the charge.

Griffin denied having any performance or personality conflicts at the University, citing the jobs he was frequently given by facilities and maintenance officials before his dismissal.

"[Since] last July, I worked at all of the upperclass houses," he said. "I had plenty of work--it wasn't my performance, which they're bringing up now. I did a quality job for a reasonable price."

Ehrlich said Griffin has always before been skillful, hardworking and personable.

"He has a special contract with Harvard to do a lot of maintenance work," Ehrlich said. "These problems were never raised in the past nine months. It's illegal to fire someone [for meeting with a reporter]."

Griffin said he believes he was fired because he was outspokenly pro-union and because he had voiced a negative opinion about the maintenance work being done on upperclass houses.

He said Robert L. Mortimer, who is associate director for building services in the Office of Physical Resources, has been having considerable problems with upperclass house maintenance because he has hired inferior labor.

"He has his own team there of non-union contractors," said Griffin. "It seems he just wanted these contractors...who were doing unbelievably horrible work. The safety of the work that goes on in these buildings is atrocious."

McCurtian and Mortimer could not be reached for comment.

Young defended Harvard's conduct in the case.

"I think there is a larger agenda here, which has to do with union representatives aggressively seeking more work for the people they represent," she said. "I believe this is in part prompting the charge.