Faculty Club Labor Negotiations Stalled

Negotiations between Faculty Club workers and the University broke down yesterday after the two parties failed to come to terms over alleged contract violations, representatives of the two sides said.

No date has been scheduled for future negotiations, which could be complicated by the expiration of the Harvard dining workers' contract in June.

Union officials at yesterday's session said they renewed threats of demonstrations in front of the troubled club after management said it might hire outside workers to replace regular personnel during their regularly scheduled weekend hours on April 26.

But Edward W. Powers, Harvard's associate general counsel for employee relations, backed down from earlier threats that he might fire workers if they picket, according to Dominic M. Bozzotto, president of the Food Service Workers Union, Local 26.

"We're not afraid of losing our jobs," said a waitress who spoke on the condition that she not be named. "The protest would just be to let people know that they're taking our work away from us."

Powers said in an interview last night that he is considering moving functions away from the Faculty Club if the workers persist with their complaints. He also said he could not rule outthe possibility that the Faculty Club might beclosed entirely.

Creative Gourmet, the Allston catering firmthat has operated the financially troubled clubsince September, has twice this year replacedregular club workers who receive time-and-a-halfwages on weekends with outside help that receiveslower non-union wages, workers have charged. Theworkers have said that the management actionsviolate their contract.

A confrontation was narrowly averted lastweekend when union officials called off ademonstration planned to protest the allegedviolations.

Union representatives said at the time that thestrike was called off because a permanenttime-and-a-half agreement had been reached, andthat yesterday's meeting was scheduled to finalizethe agreement.

But Powers said yesterday that the agreementapplied only to last Saturday. Powers said heagreed to pay time-and-a-half wages on April 5 toensure that a wedding that day would not bedisrupted. "We weren't agreeing to do anything inthe future," Powers said.

The union charges that Creative Gourmet hasbeen using outside workers to cut huge deficits,which were estimated to exceed $100,000 when thenew management took over in September. Workersreceive time-and-a-half for weekend work--morethan $10 per hour--while outside labor is paidbetween $4 and $5 an hour, Bozzotto said.

Although paying time-and-a-half has been aregular Faculty Club practice, this paymentschedule is not part of the workers' contract,Powers said. Powers said he did not learn of thepractice until recently.

Bozzotto rejected Powers' explanation as"ridiculous," saying that Harvard had paid thehigher weekend wages directly before CreativeGourmet took over the club. Bozotto also said thatlong-accepted practices are effectively a part ofthe workers' contract and that they could not bedenied by the University