Former Auto Workers Leader Likely to Join Harvard Faculty

The former head of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Union is "seriously considering" an offer to teach a course at Harvard on labor relations, University officials said yesterday.

Douglas Fraser, a high school dropout and 50-year member of the UAW, may start lecturing this February in Harvard's Trade Union Program and would probably guest lecture in other schools and the undergraduate Economics department.

The union leader was invited by Lamont University Professor John T. Dunlop, who leads a seminar in the program.

The program, which each year trains about 30 high-level union officials in labor law, policy, and relations, is sponsored jointly by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Kennedy School of Government, the Law School, and the School of Education Unions pay tuition for their representatives to attend.

"I would be extremely pleased if Fraser chose to accept," said James L. Medoff, who teaches labor courses in the Economics department and is a member of the faculty committee overseeing the program.

Since Fraser retired from the UAW he has taught an honors seminar at the University of Michigan called. "The Changing Role of the Labor Movement in the Decade Ahead."

Harvard may not learn of Fraser's decision until right before the start of the spring term, Medoff said.

Fraser is "one of the most knowledgeable people in the country about industrial relations," Medoff added. "He would contribute a tremendous amount to the Harvard community."

Fraser would probably commute from his Michigan residence for a few days every other week in the beginning, according to his wife Winnifred. She added that he has not yet reached a decision to accept the offer.

UAW Tries to Organize at Harvard

A UAW local has tried to organize workers in Harvard's Medical Area since 1977.

The University has challenged the UAW's bid for an election to allow the clerical and technical employees to vote on whether the union will represent them.

The dispute, over whether the Medical Area is an appropriate unit for collective bargaining, is now before the National Labor Relations Board.

Harvard stopped UAW attempts to unionize the employees in 1977 and 1981 through massive campaigns to convince workers to vote against the union.

Fraser, who spoke here in April of 1981, strongly supported the organizing movement.

Jeremiah M. Hurley, an international representative of the UAW associated with the Med Area organizing drive, yesterday called Harvard's invitation "hypocritical."

"They're using every legal method they can to prevent the organizing of their own workers," he explained.

Hurley predicted that Fraser would endorse the organizing campaign while at Harvard and added that the organizers would probably use Fraser's visit to generate more favorable publicity for the campaign.

Michael F. P. Dorning contributed to this story.

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