Looking Beyond the Union Label

ONE NIGHT last week, in celebration of the holidays to come, Harvard decked the halls of the Freshman Union with holiday candles and wreaths. There were linen napkins and crystal bowls of nuts on the tables, and as I walked into the cheery hall I looked forward to a meal that might be a bit more appetizing than usual.

My dinner companions smiled at the Harvard senior at the table by the door. Then, after each one had taken a free button from a display on the table, the senior asked us to sign a petition "for the union."

Perhaps it was an especially large dose of Christmas spirit that moved my dorm mates, or perhaps they just didn't want to disappoint a fellow student who was obviously very committed to a cause. In any event, both of my friends ended up adding their names to the hundreds at the bottom of the form. And neither of my friends bothered to read what they were signing.

"DO YOU know what you just did?" I asked one of my friends as he fastened a red and white pro-union button to the lapel of his jacket. He told me that he liked the button, and that one name wasn't going to make a difference anyway. He didn't have any idea what he had signed, and he didn't care.

I don't support the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW). I think that a strong union on the Harvard campus would hurt both students and workers. Students would be forced to pay higher tuition bills to support higher union wages, and would be at the mercy of the union if a strike or walkout were ever called. Union negotiations with management would restrict possiblities for individuals to distinguish themselves, so a union would hurt workers too. Employee efficiency would drop once union wage scales lessened the relationship between performance and pay.

But even if I supported the union, I wouldn't have signed the petition at the Union. This tabling drive, still underway, is not intended to show support for unionism at Harvard. In fact, pro-union literature--unread on the table next to those colorful little buttons--stated quite clearly (in italics) that "There will be a union of clerical and technical workers at Harvard." The petition didn't ask students to express support for the union. It asked them to condemn anticipated Harvard moves to convince workers that a union isn't in their own best interest.

According to the pamphlet, called "Working Together", when unions have sprung up at Harvard in the past, the University has spent time and money telling employees exactly what it believes the effects of unionizing will be on them and on Harvard. The HUCTW tabling effort, then, is designed to keep Harvard from telling its side of the story. And that's an intention no less oppressive than ones HUCTW ascribes to the University.

If the union is truly a good thing for the Harvard community, then it should be anxious to hear the University's arguments and then to refute them. Since the union is fighting to keep those arguments from being heard, one has to wonder why it's so reluctant to put its arguments against Harvard's.

MY FRIENDS, and perhaps they're not unusual among Harvard undergraduates, signed a petition dealing with an issue they did not understand. And the purpose of that petition was to prevent them from ever becoming informed of the various sides.

I saw one of my friends wearing his new button again yesterday. I asked him why he was still wearing it. It's too late now, he said, I've already signed the petition so I might as well wear the button. "It's a really nice button."

It doesn't have to be too late. The HUCTW is an important issue on this campus, and it will continue to be for some time to come. Every student should take it upon himself to find out more about the HUCTW, and about the past history of unions at Harvard and other schools. Only with this knowledge should one sign a petition or wear a button promoting either side.

Students might begin with a little skepticism towards those who try to prevent them from making informed decisions of their own.