Harvard, Union To Discuss Contract

The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers will commence its eighth round of contract negotiations with University management this fall—a process that will address not only issues such as worker salaries and benefits, but also Harvard’s larger working environment.

By October, union leaders will have initiated broad-based discussions within its 5,800-person organization about the state of their current workplace to prepare for formal contract negotiations with the University, according to HUCTW director Bill Jaeger. The current three-year contract expires on June 30, 2010.

Jaeger said he expects the internal conversations to form the basis of “more urgent and formal” talks between union leaders and management toward the end of the calendar year, which will phase into substantive negotiations by February.

“It’s a little bit too early to talk in any confident way about goals,” Jaeger said in an interview earlier this month. “We hope for a good agreement that really meets the needs of members of the union. It’s more important to have a good contract than an early or fast contract.”

But Jaeger added that discussions will be “comprehensive” and may broach issues such as flexibility in scheduling, career mobility within the University, workplace organization and supervision, and the balance of work and time-off. He emphasized that negotiations will go beyond “economic issues.”

Harvard spokesman Kevin Galvin, who often handles labor relations inquiries, wrote in an e-mailed statement that University negotiators are “proud” of their relationship with HUCTW, and that they hope for “productive” conversations with “the people who help to make [Harvard] one of the world’s premier institutions.”

Jaeger said most union members would agree that the most successful contract negotiations occurred in 2007. The “productive and harmonious” round of talks led to improved benefits and salary increases for workers, and also overhauled the educational assistance program, which gives union members financial support and time off to continue their education.

By contrast, the union had its worst round of talks with the University in 1992, according to Jaeger. The contract renegotiation—which became deadlocked over issues of employee compensation and benefits and required the intervention of an outside mediator—was not resolved until January of the following year.

HUCTW ratified its first contract with Harvard in 1989, after a protracted struggle to gain recognition from the University.

Between then and 2007, the union has achieved a 145% salary increase for workers, strengthened its work-security program, and worked to preserve full health benefits for part-time employees.

—Staff writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu.