Green, HUCTW In Benefits Battle

Provost Jerry R. Green and the president of Harvard's largest union traded barbs yesterday in an escalating battle over a University-wide review of staff and faculty benefits.

In an interview yesterday, Green lashed out at the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) for failing to participate in the first University benefits review in more than 15 years.

Green said he asked HUCTW officials to join groups advising a University-wide task force chaired by the provost that is reviewing the way Harvard pay benefits .The provost was responding to comments made last week by HUCTW director Bill Jaeger, who claimed that the union was being deliberately excluded form that task force.

Green said his offers of a "full partnership" have met resistance.

"I have talked to HUCTW, trying to implore them to join or form and advisory group. So far they haven't," he said, "We're open to their input formally or informally at any time."

But HUCTW President Donene Williams blasted Green yesterday, saying the advisory groups are playing little more then a token role in the benefits review.

"The process that [Green] describes is not one that includes any sort of respectful partnership," Williams said.

Williams said HUCTW is seeking direct participation in the task force, which is scheduled to make a final recommendation in early May.

"We're willing to talk on a mutual basis, as long as we come to the table as equals," she said. "We have to work together to define the problem and define the solution."

Union leaders may be nervous about the process because it could lead to a reduction in benefits for their members.

Green, other administrators and the University-controlled Harvard Gazette have frequently emphasized the rising costs of employee benefits. The provost said yesterday that reductions in the amount of benefits paid to staff and faculty are a possible result of the task force's review.

"We're discussed all kind of options," Green said. "Some of them involve the University paying a lower share for certain benefits."

Green and HUCTW officials have clashed before. In the summer of 1992, the provost accused the unions's leaders of spreading "disinformation" in aneffort to affect the then-contentious contractnegotiations between Harvard and HUCTW.

But yesterday, the provost said he is willingto work with the union through 10 advisory groups,which provide input but do not have a direct voicein the decision-making process.

"We'd like to work with [HUCTW] in fullpartnership and what that means is joining one ofthese [advisory] groups or forming one of theirown," Green said.

The provost also defended the advisory groups,which he said are meeting regularly. Green said hehad "two feet" of files of the data compiled bythe groups.

"We've actually worked with these advisorygroups," Green said. "They're working very hard."

For example, Green said the faculty advisorygroup, which he also chairs, has met three timesthis month and that other groups are meeting everycouple of weeks.

But Williams said it is not the frequency ofmeetings but the weight they carry that concernsHUCTW.

"It's an intentionally diminished role,"Williams said. "They knew that it would not be aprocess that would be respectful of the union."

"They alone defined the problem," she added."They alone defined the process for finding asolution."

Last week, Jaeger accused the administration ofexcluding the workers who will eventually be mostaffected by any changes in benefits.

"This looks like a process that a small groupof top-level, highly-paid administrators aretrying to control very tightly," he said.

Green said yesterday that he recognized theissue was sensitive. Employee benefits involveeverything from child care to health care toretirement.

In the last two decades, the averageprofessorial retirement age has risen from 65 to70, more married women have joined the work force,and health care costs have skyrocketed, theprovost said.

But union leaders said the best way to find outabout employees' needs is to give them a voice onthe task force.

"Members of the Harvard community dependheavily on these benefits," Jaeger said last week."For many Harvard families, these benefits aretools for survival.

But yesterday, the provost said he is willingto work with the union through 10 advisory groups,which provide input but do not have a direct voicein the decision-making process.

"We'd like to work with [HUCTW] in fullpartnership and what that means is joining one ofthese [advisory] groups or forming one of theirown," Green said.

The provost also defended the advisory groups,which he said are meeting regularly. Green said hehad "two feet" of files of the data compiled bythe groups.

"We've actually worked with these advisorygroups," Green said. "They're working very hard."

For example, Green said the faculty advisorygroup, which he also chairs, has met three timesthis month and that other groups are meeting everycouple of weeks.

But Williams said it is not the frequency ofmeetings but the weight they carry that concernsHUCTW.

"It's an intentionally diminished role,"Williams said. "They knew that it would not be aprocess that would be respectful of the union."

"They alone defined the problem," she added."They alone defined the process for finding asolution."

Last week, Jaeger accused the administration ofexcluding the workers who will eventually be mostaffected by any changes in benefits.

"This looks like a process that a small groupof top-level, highly-paid administrators aretrying to control very tightly," he said.

Green said yesterday that he recognized theissue was sensitive. Employee benefits involveeverything from child care to health care toretirement.

In the last two decades, the averageprofessorial retirement age has risen from 65 to70, more married women have joined the work force,and health care costs have skyrocketed, theprovost said.

But union leaders said the best way to find outabout employees' needs is to give them a voice onthe task force.

"Members of the Harvard community dependheavily on these benefits," Jaeger said last week."For many Harvard families, these benefits aretools for survival.