Vote to Pick BGMA Union Set July 20

The Buildings and Grounds Maintenance (BGMA) will vote July 20 to determine which union will be its bargaining agent.

Three different unions have contested the right to represent the 265 Harvard tradesmen--carpenters, electricians, plumbers, groundskeepers, truck drivers, and mechanics--who comprise the BGMA.

One of the unions, the Boston Crafts Maintenance Council (AFL-CIO), has held that the BGMA voted unofficially last fall to affiliate with it. Two other unions, the Building Services Employes International and a group seeking to keep the name BGMA, have also claimed to represent the B&G workers. The University has insisted upon an election, supervised by the Massachusetts Labor Relations Board, in order to maintain its objectivity as the management party. Therefore Harvard has not recognized the BCMC as the official union.

The BCMC called a commencement-time strike, in which many tradesmen participated, to show that it did in fact represent BGMA workers. The strike ended when Harvard agreed to attend a conciliation conference. At the conference, the three contesting unions and the University agreed to the state-run election.

Barring reports of irregularities such as coercive campaigning, the Labor Relations Board is expected to certify the results of the July 20 election by about August 1. Although Harvard--as a non-profit organization--is not legally bound to recognize the union which is declared the winner, it has said that it would.

The election procedure was described last night by a labor lawyer as very similar to that in municipal elections. Campaigning is allowed. The ballot is secret. A plurality wins.