New Union Foreshadows Better Representation

Thanks for your support and fact-based articles on the contract/job concerns of both the Harvard cleaners and the three security-related units ("Security Guards Form New Union," news story, Nov. 27). The fact that 67 employees voted for the new association and self-rule, as well as more credible negotiations with Harvard University, is owed in large part to your paper's efforts and acts.

Obviously, it is a bit disappointing that 49 people opposed the idea of self-rule, but I am positive that an even greater effort to communicate with all employees in those three units, as well as the allowance of planned votes for the negotiating team, and an overall negotiating strategy, will further alleviate some of the fears the present dissenters may have.

This is not about any one group or any individual, but about a great effort being undertaken to unify different types of employees for the same cause of all of us gaining a new right to vote on all things our employer may offer, line for line, rather than our deferring that right to representatives and a business agent from what has been a less-than-forthright union, as it was in the past.

This is but one step on the road toward meeting this common goal. In the end, we'll be on more solid footing, representative-wise, where everyone will have a voice and no idea or concern will be ignored.

No matter how anyone voted, I'm proud of all who took the time out on such a horrible weather day to voice their opinion via the ballot box monitored by the National Labor Relations Board. Personally, I am very proud of all of them. Thanks again! --Andrew James Kluttz,   Harvard University Police Department   security employee