For One and All

"WE want to let the 'no' votes know there is a place for them," proclaimed Kris Rondeau, leader of of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), in a speech the day the union was elected.

The union went back on that promise. HUCTW shut out the 'no' votes. The union decided to allow only those workers who had signed union cards before last May's election to choose representatives to attend the first meetings with the University. This move was an outright betrayal of the ideology on which the union campaigned and an insult to those who supported the drive for representation.

The informal transitional meetings were designed to give the administration an idea of what its like to work as a clerical or technical employee at Harvard and to pave the way to less confrontational relations in the future. Yet, how can tensions be eased and workers' lives fairly depicted, when only a portion of the workers choose their representatives?

"DID you expect it to be democratic?" asked the University administrator who oversees relations with labor, Vice President for Finance Robert H. Scott. Yes, we did, and with good reason. The union premised its entire organizing drive on inclusion--meeting one-on-one with workers and urging all staff to voice their concerns. Union organizers said the main goal of having a union at Harvard was not to raise worker salaries or boost worker benefits, but to give workers a powerful voice in decision-making.

With this move, the union gives only certain workers a voice. It discounts the voices of those who voted for the union, but were scared to sign a union card before the election. It excludes union supporters who came to work at Harvard after the union was voted in. It is a slap in the face to 'no' votes, a signal that their voieces will not be heard. The informal transitional meetings are the first chance the newly unionized workers will get to tell the administration about their goals, and although no official decisions will be made at the meetings, letting only some of the workers participate is setting a dangerous precedent for future talks.

AFTER these initial meetings, workers will elect representatives to negotiate a contract. Rondeau said employees who do not sign union cards "in good faith" cannot chose future union representatives. What is good faith and who will decide it? If union leaders exclude some workers for alleged bad motives, they will essentially be weeding out those who disagree with them the most.

All workers must be allowed to participate in future contract talkes to ensure that the the contract fairly represents everyone, not just the most active participants in the union. The only way for HUCTW to stay true to its professed aims is to include very worker, every step along the way.

The union exists even for those who campaigned against it. Otherwise, HUCTW would have no legitimate claim to be the bargaining unit for all Harvard support staff. Until now, the union has made clear that is would represent all workers. In the workers' interest, it must.