SLAM To Fast for Security Guards

The Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM) announced yesterday that its members will begin a fast—which could escalate into a hunger strike of “indefinite lengths and proportions”—in an attempt to influence the negotiations of Harvard’s security guards with their employer AlliedBarton.

After months of petitions and rallies protesting Harvard’s labor conditions, SLAM, in conjunction with the student umbrella organization Stand for Security Coalition, is turning to drastic measures to catch the University’s attention, organizers of the strike said.

While Harvard is not directly involved in the negotiations (AlliedBarton is an independent contractor that employs the guards), SLAM said in a letter to Interim University President Derek C. Bok that the group will hold “Harvard University, the Harvard Corporation, and the President accountable for any continued violation of worker rights on campus.”

SLAM’s letter warns of the hunger strike plans, and gives the University until Friday to agree to SLAM’s terms.

The first day of fasting is scheduled for Thursday. If the University does not respond by the Friday deadline, members of SLAM have pledged to hold a two-day fast at the beginning of next week and eventually go on a hunger strike of “indefinite lengths and proportions.”

The letter said that the situation of security officers on Harvard’s campus has reached the level of a “human rights crisis,” and that the University should guarantee five standards in the worker’s contracts­—fair wages; steady, full-time work; a safe and sanitary workplace; fair procedures; and the right to organize.

Joe Wrinn, a Harvard spokesperson on labor issues, declined to comment on the matter late last night, saying that he had not yet seen the letter.

Two security guards on campus also declined to comment, stating that they were not allowed to give interviews.

Alyssa M. Aguilera ’08-09, a member of SLAM, said that the University has ignored the group’s grievances for two years now and said that SLAM has been “forced” to react drastically.

SLAM began advocating on the guards’ behalf two years ago after the University outsourced its guards to Security Services Incorporated—now AlliedBarton—because of financial losses. The move resulted in a loss of union rights for workers.

Last November, AlliedBarton and the Service Employees International Union reached the agreement, permitting the guards to organize for the first time since the University outsourced their jobs in 2004.

SLAM members said at the time that they hoped union membership would be a means of providing the guards with fair contract, a living wage, affordable health care, and a fair grievance process.

“We think the five demands are fundamental and noncontroversial. We are asking for basic rights and don’t want to get into an escalation process,” Aguilera said yesterday. “Hopefully, Harvard will step up.”

The deadline for the contract negotiation between AlliedBarton and the guards is early May, according to Aguilera.

According to the letter sent to Bok sent by SLAM, 600 individuals have signed the coalition’s petition regarding the security guards’ contracts.

The Stand for Security Coalition includes large student groups like the Harvard Democrats and the Black Students’ Association who pledge support to the security guards, yet several members contacted last night said they were unsure of how active their groups would be in the fast.

Another member of SLAM, Michael A. Gould-Wartofsky ’07, who is also a Crimson editorial editor, said that the fasts will be held in a public arena on campus, but that he is not yet sure where.

“We want to be physically visible because this whole process is about building up support,” he said.

—Staff writer Aditi Banga can be reached at abanga@fas.harvard.edu.