Labor Activists Win Disclosure, Wage Increase

The University's janitors are expected to ratify a new three-year contract today that will raise their hourly wage by more than $1 by 2002, but members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) said the janitors will still not be making a living wage.

The members of the Local 254 of the Service Employees International Union, will convene in Science Center E to vote on the tentative terms of the contract, agreed to in writing on Saturday by the union's negotiating team and the Harvard administration.

Local 254 represents about 300 janitors, and is one of Harvard's smaller unions.

While union leadership is in favor of the contract and membership is expected to ratify it, many on campus are upset at the slow timetable of wage increases.

PSLM's Living Wage Campaign is planning a rally for today to urge Harvard to pay all its employees a $10 hourly wage immediately.

While the base wage of most custodians will rise above $10 by 2002 under the new agreement, PSLM members said the contract's extended timetable does not account for inflation.

PSLM member Amy C. Offner '01 said the wage increase was an improvement, but did not go far enough.

"What strikes me is that they're dancing around the living wage, and that after three years the living wage should have gone up with inflation, so this will no longer be a living wage," she said.

"This is the kind of concession that the University can make to defuse pressure on campus without giving in," she added.

Harvard officials maintained that the University abided by the rules of collective bargaining and decided on a deal acceptable to both sides.

"Obviously both sides have to be happy with what they have or there wouldn't be a tentative agreement," said Harvard spokesperson Joe Wrinn.

But the Living Wage Campaign, headed by PSLM, said its program of demonstrations and informational events to pressure the administration will not cease until Harvard pays all of its employees $10 per hour.

Offner said Local 254's contract is a sign that PSLM's direct action is affecting Harvard's policies.

"I don't know the last time that students were out rallying for janitors," she said. "I'm glad that the administration is feeling the pressure and that we're making a difference."

Today's rally is expected to feature speeches by Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West '74 and Cambridge Vice Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio.

Organizers said they expect 300 students to attend, in what would be the largest display of activism since last March's "Rally for Justice."

PSLM member Benjamin L. McKean '02 said the rally will begin at the Science Center at noon. Protesters will proceed to University Hall for chants and speeches, and then march by Mass. Hall, out Johnston Gate, and across Mass. Ave. to Holyoke Center.

At Holyoke Center, student demonstrators will join with Harvard workers and local politicians, who will be hosting their own rally on the steps of City Hall and then marching down Mass. Ave. with signs and posters.

Speakers, including Lecturer on Women's Studies Juliet B. Schor, Galluccio, and students and workers, will then address the crowd.

"I'm going to reaffirm my support on behalf of the City Council that as one of the city' s largest employers, Harvard [needs] to join Cambridge in support of fair and compassionate wage practices," Galluccio said.

The City Council passed a $10 living wage for all Cambridge employees last spring, and last night passed a resolution calling for Harvard to treat its employees in a similar fashion.

"Expanded efforts to reach out into Cambridge community will go a long way to improving social conditions in the city," Galluccio said. "Unless we can get leading institutions like Harvard to follow our lead I don't think we can make the impact we'd like to have."

The Living Wage Campaign has organized today's rally as part of a national day of action. More than 20 other colleges and universities, including Brown, Duke, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Stanford and Yale Universities, are also participating.

The campaign has mounted a massive publicity drive to draw support for today's rally, with a barrage of postering, phonebanking, leafleting, doordropping, and tabling. PSLM members also personally visited each Yard dorm to inform first-years about the Living Wage Campaign.

In addition, PSLM hosted a living wage panel last night in Emerson Hall. The group of local activists and attorneys described similar fights for a living wage in communities throughout the Boston area and urged Harvard students to keep on fighting.

"There is no doubt that student and community opinion affect what the school does," said attorney Judy E. Somberg, who is active in the Cambridge Living Wage Campaign.