Union Postpones Picketing

UNITE HERE! Local 26, the union that represents workers of the Harvard Club of Boston, postponed its picket originally scheduled for Tuesday in anticipation of renewed contract negotiations next week with Harvard Club management.

On Sunday, the union’s Harvard Club Bargaining Committee decided to postpone the picket after management asked to meet with the union early next week.

Brian Lang, the president of the union, said that he was “hopeful” that negotiations on Monday and Tuesday will be more productive than they had in the past.

“I’m open-minded,” Lang said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Union representative Dana Simon said that negotiations so far have been characterized by disrespect on the part of club management.

“Management has given us their assurance that this bargaining will be real,” Simon said. “We don’t know if that will happen.”

The union has rescheduled the protest for next Wednesday at 5pm at the club.

The Harvard Club of Boston is not associated with Harvard University, but is open to Harvard graduates and graduates of “selected affiliate colleges and universities,” according to its website. A spokesperson for the club did not return a request for comment.

Simon said that the union and the club have been trying to come up with a new contract since July of last year.

“It’s pretty unusual that bargaining goes on for the better part of a year,” Simon said.

Last October, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the club for failing to provide required information during the negotiating process.

The negotiating process has been further marred by a complaint by the union to the NLRB accusing the club of threatening workers and engaging in illegal surveillance to prevent them from participating in union activities. Additionally, the club’s wait staff has filed a lawsuit against the management alleging that it charged patrons a gratuity fee, but never passed that money along to its workers.

“[The lawsuit] is a symbol of the way club management has disrespected workers,” Simon said. “They’ve just been taking their money.”

In addition, the club has not offered to increase wages, at least for now, according to Simon.

“People are having a very tough time paying their rent, paying their mortgages,” Simon said.

Student Labor Action Movement member William P. Whitham ’14 said that while interning for the union over the summer, he witnessed some of the negotiations with the club, which he called “very frustrating.”

“It’s not purely an ethical thing. It also has to do with this very basic idea of fair and respectful negotiations,” Whitham said. “Management was showing disrespect both in and out of negotiations.”

Whitham said that he was planning on attending the picket Tuesday but was happy to hear that the club had said it would meet with union negotiators.

“I’m glad that the threat of a picket had this effect,” Whitham said. “I just hope that their attitude has changed.”

—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu.