Harvard Club Depends Upon Unions for Fiscal Survival

The comments of Harvard Club Vice President Charlotte P. Armstrong ("Harvard Club Strike Remains in Place"; The Crimson, Sept. 16) are confusing to those of us who have been on strike at the club for the last six months. We believe that a Vice President of the Harvard Club should be better informed.

Ms. Armstrong says. "The way it is now, the union has control over us. It's the union that's running the club." If Ms. Armstrong's statement is accurate, and I'm certainly not saying that it is, then you would think that she would be grateful to our union.

Under the union's alleged tenure "running the club," the Harvard Club enjoyed substantial increases in membership and revenue, and the club became "relatively prosperous" in the last few years, according to an independent audit commissioned by management and released before the strike.

Ms. Armstrong said, "Union work rules prevent dishwashers from washing pots and pot washers from washing dishes." It's unfortunate that Ms. Armstrong didn't take even one moment to attend any of the mediation sessions which were held. If she had, she would have heard a Harvard Club executive manager openly admit to a federal mediator that all employees do whatever jobs they are asked to do.

And while Ms. Armstrong admitted that the club has incurred large legal fees because of the strike, she may have fibbed a little when she said it is operating on a more economical basis because it has not had to obey union pay rules.

The truth is that management was caught during the strike paying wages to scabs which were double those which were paid to the union employees. The National Labor Relations Board made management stop this unfair labor practice and forced them to post a notice saying the club wouldn't do it again.

While it is silly for anyone to say that the club is operating more economically during the strike, it is especially inane for the comment to come from a vice president. Some of the club's "more economical" operations during the strike include paying its lawyers to go to court on a half-dozen occasions to have the name of the club's President, Don Shapiro, removed from our picket signs, hiring a full video crew to tape our children, who have had to use our picket line as a day care center, purchasing and installing state-of-the-art sound and video equipment to clandestinely monitor our picket line, and hiring a high-priced public relations firm to tell vice presidents what to say to members of the media like The Crimson.

Ms. Armstrong's contention that the club is operating on a more economical basis because of the strike reminds me of a comment issued by an auto expert years ago, when Chevrolet introduced it's Corvair model: "It's the ultimate economy car. It doesn't start."

Of course the Harvard Club operates on a more economical basis during the strike. The severe loss of business has led to the lay-off of a number of their high-salaried managers and most of the scabs. --David Ramos   Member, Local Six   Harvard Club of New York