Custodial Workers Get Raw Deal

Custodial workers at Harvard were recently dealt another blow in their ongoing struggle with University officials. As of last Monday, employees from Harvard's Facilities Maintenance Organization (FMO) will no longer clean Qunicy House, Cabot House, Loeb Drama Center, Lamont Library and Pusey Library. They have seen their responsibilities and the accompanying wages transferred to an outside firm, UNICCO Service Corporation. We are extremely dismayed by this latest mistreatment of workers on the part of the University.

During the last week of August 1996, the custodial workers' union, Local 254, signed a new three-year contract with the University. The contract, agreed to under questionable conditions of fairness, included a wage freeze, cut vacation time, and slashed sick pay. In addition, roughly 30 long-time employees claim they were pressured to accept severance packages to make room for new workers who would accept lower pay and fewer benefits. The poor terms of the agreement were defended on the grounds that they would bring FMO wages in line with those of outside contractors. At the time, Timothy R. Manning, Harvard's director of labor relations, described the new contract as an attempt to "treat people fairly as an alternative to hiring outside people." We see a glaring inconsistency in the University's recent decision to grant contracts to UNICCO.

David A. Zewinski '76, associate dean of physical resources, acknowledges that there are no outstanding reports of poor service by FMO. He also claims that cost difference between FMO and UNICCO was not a major factor in the decision. If this is true, then Harvard custodians should not be losing work. For some time, individual schools and departments within the University have had the right to purchase custodial service from outside contractors. We have always felt that FMO should be shown preference, especially when it offers the same quality of service as outside firms. In-house custodians develop relationships with students and contribute to a community atmosphere. The University's most recent decision is most puzzling for its lack of grounding.

The University has offered an insufficient explanation for the decision regarding FMO workers. The custodians were led to believe that their new contract would protect them from the very out-sourcing which has just taken place. They, and the students who care about them, deserve an explanation. In describing the decision to hire UNICCO, Zewinski has said, "You go with the visceral feeling of what you feel is going to be the best." We find this justification to be wholly unsatisfactory. In fact, we feel that helping the employees who have served us so well for so many years is the best decision Harvard can make.