Warned Worker Gets More Union Support

Faced with union and student protesters, the University changed course last Friday and decided to allow a union representative to be present at a library worker’s performance review.

The reversal came after about 20 members of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) and several members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) turned out to demonstrate on the worker’s behalf, chanting and clapping through the halls of Widener Library last Friday morning.

The worker, Randy Fenstermacher, a Harvard College Library employee and union member, had demanded union representation out of concern that he might be disciplined for his activities in HUCTW, according to Geoff Carens, a union representative.

But Harvard declined Fenstermacher’s demands because union representation is not guaranteed in regular performance reviews under HUCTW’s contract with the University, according to Marilyn D. Touborg, director of communications for the Office of Human Resources.

In response to Harvard’s refusal, Carens said he helped organize the protest before a meeting at which library management met with Carens and Fenstermacher to discuss Fenstermacher’s demands.

At the meeting, library management initially warned Fenstermacher for “insubordinate behavior,” Carens said. However, according to Carens, library officials later offered to withdraw the warning and agreed to further meetings between library management, union representatives and Fenstermacher to discuss library policies.

Esther Vegh, assistant director of communications for Harvard’s Office of Human Resources, declined to comment on the alleged warning.

Carens praised the protesters, who chanted “We’re going to be watching!” and “We’ll be back!” in support of Fenstermacher.

“While management continues to claim that union members do not have the automatic right to representation at performance reviews, our campaign certainly sent a powerful message,” Carens wrote in an e-mail to HUCTW members. “The militant defense of Randy upholds the best traditions of the labor movement.”

Vegh said the demonstration was not a major reason for the settlement, and said management came into the meeting intending to have an open discussion of the issue.

“The fact is that going into the meeting they were looking for a way to resolve this, and I think that’s more important than anything,” she said.

And Vegh said the library’s decision in Fenstermacher’s case did not represent a departure from the University’s previous stance on representation.

“They were just trying to get past what had become a contentious issue,” she said. “It’s certainly not a change in policy.”

PSLM also sent a letter Friday to Peter J. Martel, an official with library Human Resources, protesting Fenstermacher’s situation and accusing the library of arbitrarily denying Fenstermacher representation.

PSLM also accused the University of negotiating in bad faith and illegally intimidating Fenstermacher.

“We have learned that management ignored these good-faith attempts to resolve the problem,” PSLM wrote in the letter.

PSLM also characterized the dispute as part of a larger University campaign against labor rights. They said the action could be seen as an attempt to remove Fenstermacher and subcontract jobs previously held by union members—a concern that HUCTW members have expressed as well.

“We see management’s illegal retaliation against Mr. Fenstermacher as part of a general campaign against Union membership, rights and representation in the Facilities Department,” PSLM wrote.

Carens began to rally support for Fenstermacher in the days leading up to last Wednesday’s semi-annual HUCTW membership meeting. He distributed a flyer to many HUCTW members accusing union leadership of being too weak in advocacy, including in Fenstermacher’s case.

“We need a stronger approach!” the flyer read.

—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.