Food Workers Plan for Contract Talks

With all four of the University's unions scheduled to renegotiate their contracts this year, Harvard's most prominent union last night began organizing its workers for the upcoming negotiations.

Domenic M. Bozzotto, president of Hotel, Restaurant, Institutional Employees and Bartenders Union Local 26, told more than 200 dining hall workers gathered in Science Center D that, if they remained united, they could win a good contract from Harvard.

"We're going to get tough We're not going to let King Edward scare us." Bozzotto told the crowd, referring to the University's associate general counsel for employee relations and chief contract negotiator, Edward W. Powers.

Bozzotto asked union members to gather support among both food service workers and outside groups for the negotiations, which will probably address health insurance, wage increases and job security.

According to union officials, the dining hall workers' union has never struck against Harvard, though it staged a one-hour walkout in 1976.

The crowd was one of the largest to attend a union meeting in recent years. Bozzotto noted.

Many union members interviewed this week said they are paying too much for their medical insurance. "One guy who works here now has to get off Blue Cross-Blue Shield; he can't afford it." Timothy W. Atwater, a bus-person at Leverett House, said. Michael J. Desrosiers, a relief manager at Leverett House, added that he thought he would pay about the same insurance premiums at a non-group rate.

Food service workers also said the University has cut too many staff positions in recent years. One Leverett House worker, who asked not to be identified, said she now does the work that three or four employees did several years ago.

Harvard-Yale Rivalry

Union organizers had circulated a flyer comparing Harvard dining hall worker's salaries and benefits with those of Yale University. The flyer shows Yale workers receive wages over 15 percent higher than Harvard's dining hall workers, as well as free medical insurance.

Powers agreed yesterday that Yale employees have a better contract than their counter-parts at Harvard, but he added that Yale employees have an unusually good contract and Yale is currently bringing its wages back in line with other employers.

Yale officials confirmed Powers' statement, saying that Yale dining hall workers receive only 1.4 percent annual pay raises under their current three-year contract.

"Harvard's wages are the best in the Boston area," Powers said, adding. "We're head and shoulders above everyone else." He added that Harvard's medical coverage and other benefits are better than those of other employers in the area.

Bozzotto said that when workers cannot afford to pay for benefits, "there is no benefit." He also criticized Harvard's attitude towards its employees citing "threats against employees" to contract out food service to catering agencies or to replace them with students.

But Powers questioned "whether Harvard can afford to be that far ahead of everyone else in the Boston area" in wages and benefits paid to workers.

Contracting dining halls to outside caterers instead of hiring workers, for instance, would save in the neighborhood of $1 million per year, he said.

Student Union

Several union officials also said they would like to see the new contract covering student dining hall workers as well as profession all employees.

Edward B. Childes, a shop steward at the Adams House dining hall, said earlier this week that students should be entitled to sick days and pay on union holidays, for which they are not currently eligible. James H. Neil, a shop steward at Lowell, added that dining hall managers can currently send students home if they are not needed on a day they are scheduled to work