Pres. Race Toubles Guard's Union

Amid a slew of other troubles,

the Harvard University Security Guards, Parking Attendant and Fogg Art Museum Guards union is now embroiled in a contentious election race to decide whether union president Stephen G. McCombe will keep his post.

Steven Fritz, 37, a former Army captain who became a Fogg guard in 1998, is challenging McCombe.

Fritz is already at the center of a controversy, having convened an early March meeting with a rival union which he said led to a formal complaint by McCombe.

That complaint--filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on April 12--alleges that employees were encouraged to join another union sometime in early March.

On or about March 4, Fritz said he invited representatives from the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) to present the pros-and-cons of their union.

HUCTW, which represents a great majority of Harvard's non-academic employees, is far larger than the security guards union--which in 1995 voted to separate from its parent, the Service Employees International Union.

The meeting with HUCTW representatives took place after hours at the Fogg Museum.

"We invited them. We just wanted to know what that union could do for our members," Fritz said.

According to Fritz and at least two other union members who attended the meeting, at no time did HUCTW representatives propose that the guards' union join their organization.

Though the University denies it helped to organize the early March meeting, it is named as the object of the NLRB complaint.

If this meeting is indeed the subject of the complaint, the University would be responsible simply because the meeting was held on University property.

Robert Travers, who is currently the vice president of the guards' union, also attended the meeting, according to Fritz and another guard who was present.

University officials--who are accustomed to negotiating with HUCTW--deny allegations that they've supported Fritz in his candidacy, which surfaced in the past month.

"We do not interfere into union activities and we would never step in and try to influence the inner workings of a professional union," said University spokesperson Joe Wrinn.

Fritz's campaign for the union presidency has also come under scrutiny by fellow guards.

Besides alleging that he has received University support, some union members wonder if he conducts his campaign while on the clock.

Fritz said he promotes his candidacy "during my lunch breaks...or my bathroom breaks"--not when on duty--and said he had not received any assistance or advice from the University.

Fritz's supervisor, Michelle M. Trifiro, who is director of security for the Fogg Museum, did not respond to messages requesting comment this week.

Both McCombe and union lawyer Randall L. Nash declined to respond to Fritz's assertions or discuss the complaint they had filed against the University.

"It's being investigated by the NLRB. They haven't completed their

investigation. I really can't comment on what's in the complaint," Nash said.

McCombe has headed the autonomous security guard union since its formation on Jan 5, 1996.

Since that date, the union has been without a working contract, and has publicly complained that the University is intent on replacing the force with lower-cost private security agencies.

Several Harvard graduate schools, including the Harvard Law School and the Harvard Medical School, have replaced the Harvard guards with privately employed security agents.

McCombe has come under fire from many of the veteran guards in his force, who seek to have their contract bought out and want to retire.

For his part, McCombe has claimed in numerous interviews with The Crimson that the University has not negotiated in good faith.

But Fritz alleges that McCombe is to blame for the union woes.

"I accuse Steve McCombe of abuse of authority," he said. "We at the museum feel so alienated by our own union. We didn't feel like we had a voice," Fritz said.

A federal mediator is now overseeing the negotiations between the University and the union. Although the two sides have met in recent weeks, little progress has been made, according to a source with knowledge of the talks.

The union election--which according to union bylaws should be held in June--has not yet been scheduled.

Coincidentally, the NLRB will wrap up its investigation by the beginning of that month, according to spokesperson Lisa Fierce.

If the NLRB finds it has enough evidence to file a charge against the University, a formal investigation will begin.