It’s More Than the Money
The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers negotiated an agreement that changed the lives of hundreds of workers. It also ended competition between low-wage, no-benefit casual workers and Harvard’s permanent staff.
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
Mike Hardiman liked his job as monitor at Harvard University’s Blodgett Pool. He especially valued the fact that it was part time. “They told me they didn’t want me working more than 15 and a half hours a week,” he says. But the hours edged up; soon he was averaging 21.
Like other casual workers across the country, Hardiman and his colleagues at Harvard faced a wide variety of issues that stemmed largely, or entirely, from their temporary status. Many of those Harvard people were doing the same job as the permanent workers sitting next to them — but without benefits or job security.
ON THE CASE. Enough misuse and abuse! declared the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers/AFSCME Local 3650 (Council 93). Even earlier than Local 3299 did at the University of California (see page 16), 3650 took action.
The local also recognized a threat to permanent staff in the bargaining unit. If low-wage, no-benefit workers could be hired to do the university’s work, all staff wages and benefits were in jeopardy.
Officers of the local began with a thorough analysis of the contract that gave them the ammunition they needed: direct language limiting casual workers’ hours and length of service. The union pulled together the facts. Among them were the names of those employed in casual positions, their hours, how long they had been there. The problem turned out to be widespread and severe.
“Harvard had no argument to make,” says Local 3650 Exec. Director Bill Jaeger. “We had good facts.”
In their traditional problem-solving style, teams of Local 3650 members met with their management counterparts to work through the details of a resolution.
Workers who had been inappropriately slotted into temporary positions were not only moved into career jobs, but also received sizeable pay increases, retroactive seniority, pension credit, leave benefits and a lump-sum payment covering an estimate of money lost for lack of health insurance. Permanent staff who had worked as casuals were awarded credit for that time. Some 3,600 workers were affected.
Sally Zeckhauser, vice president for administration at the university, hailed the agreement and noted, “Harvard has a clear obligation to ensure that all employees are treated fairly and consistently.”
UNION, YES! Lillian Johnson learned about the agreement earlier this year when she got her retroactive payment. She has had a permanent job — admission services coordinator in the university’s financial aid unit — for almost two years. Before that, she held a casual position for six months.
“I was happy to receive the check,” she says. “This is my first experience with a union, and I am proud to be part of it.”
Monitor Mike Hardiman is especially happy to have joined the permanent staff. Despite a 50 percent increase in pay, however, it’s not the money that pleases him most. “Now,” he says, “I can take courses here and use the library.”
