Workers Protest Sexism

In the aftermath of University President Lawerence H. Summers’ remarks about the innate differences between the sexes, the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) has started a protest against what they see to be gender discrimination against female employees at Widener library.

HUCTW representative Geoffrey Carens alerted the Harvard community of the situation in an e-mail sent to several student groups including the Radcliffe Union of Students and the Harvard Progressive Student Labor Movement.

“Women in the unit disproportionately occupy the lowest rungs of the administrative ladder, and have often been told there is no hope for advancement,” he wrote, citing the experience of two employees in the Conservation Lab of Widener Library.

The two women, Genevieve Butler, who is also a representative for HUCTW, and Jacquelyn O’Sullivan are both conservation technicians who said they have been offered fewer opportunities in their positions.

Butler said she had been given tasks, such as training new employees, that were above her paygrade. According to her union contract, when an employee does work above their paygrade, management is required to raise the worker’s level of pay. However, when Butler complained she said she was “no longer allowed to perform some of the functions (she) had been able to.”

The HUCTW has started a grievance process within the union to deal with Butler’s case. Carens said the HUCTW “has been meeting with management and taking up her issues. There have been some small changes but we need more improvements to be made. We want her training responsibilities returned.”

Butler also complained about increased supervision on the job and difficulty in advancing. She said that she had been told that her “job wasn’t going anywhere” by her superiors, which she said she believed meant that there was not going to be any room for promotion or advancement.

Another point of contention for Butler is her department’s restrictions on receiving release time for enrolling in continuing education classes in library skills, such as book-binding.

When Butler’s supervisor, Ethel E. Hellman, was contacted by the Crimson, she declined to comment on a personnel issue and directed the Crimson to speak with the Director of Communications for Harvard Libraries Beth Brainard. Brainard also declined to comment on a personnel issue.

Butler pointed to other incidents of inequality, including a female coworker with a higher library science degree being supervised by a male who earned more money but didn’t have the degree.

In addition to Butler’s case, Carens cited the experience of O’Sullivan, who was offered a year-long job with limited benefits while a man was offered the same position on a permanent basis with health benefits.

In his e-mail to group lists, Carens called for students to send letters to Harvard’s Director of Labor Relations, Bill Murphy, saying that “The Conservation Lab’s discrimination against women workers needs to end immediately.”

Butler said that public involvement could be very helpful to her case. “When negotiations fail, we normally result to public action which we feel gets good results,” she said.

HUCTW is currently in the second stage of the grievance process and has filed claims with the Massachusetts Committee Against Discrimination.