Latino Workers Allege Racism

Four Latino workers who alleged last fall that they were being fired because of their ethnicity said at a meeting Thursday night that discrimination in the workplace has not subsided, even though they have kept their jobs.

At a forum held in Emerson Hall, approximately 25 students and workers pledged to continue their work to end the Harvard administration’s “retaliation against Latino workers.” They said a committee formed by Harvard to investigate the alleged discrimination has not resolved the issue.

Three University animal technical workers cited numerous incidents they considered to be racist acts, including an instance when a Latino cage-worker with high blood pressure and a phobia of snakes and reptiles was sent to work with those animals.

Last October, four workers were told they would lose their jobs because some of their animal cage-washing duties could be completed by machines.

But after the employees alleged discrimination, saying they were being fired because they were Latino, students rallied around them and the University rescinded the layoffs in November.

Since then, Harvard has not threatened to fire any more workers.

But Jessica G. Ranucci ’10, a member of the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), said that since the most recent forum on the issue in December, the racism against Latinos “is actually getting progressively worse.”

“As it goes on, there is more fear thatthese workers will be laid off,” she said.

Director of Communications Robert Mitchell did not comment specifically on the allegations of racism, but said that “We’re just going to have to wait until the committee has done its investigation.”

“I don’t know what was discussed [at the forum], but whatever was discussed might be premature,” Mitchell said.

The committee is composed of union and management members, according to Mitchell. The workers have been in committee hearings with the managers since the December forum, said José G. Olivarez ’10, the moderator of Thursday’s forum, who added that the committee had not been helpful.

Jaime G. Moreno, one of the workers who was supposed to be laid off in the fall and the main speaker at the forum, said that with the construction of a new science building in Allston it didn’t make sense for the University to fire their workers.

“They’re going to have to hire more people, but if now they have to lay-off, I don’t understand,” he said.

In addition to fearing for their jobs, the Latino workers said they are being given an unfair amount of work.

“There’s enough work to be distributed for everybody, but they’re not doing that at all,” Moreno said.

The workers, union members, and students said they plan to continue publicizing their efforts. They will hold a rally for the biology lab workers outside the Holyoke Center on April 4. Their demands will include an end to lay-offs, an independent investigation into racism, and no English-only policies.

Jamila Martin ’07, one of the organizers of the campaign, said that since the workers were no longer in danger of losing their jobs, they now felt that they could speak out.

“The lay-offs were an example of the more widespread discrimination,” Martin said.

“We hope to spread the word about the campaign,” Geoffrey Carens, a representative of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, said at the meeting.

“Harvard is a very racist institution. I think Latinos are just one of the groups in society that are oppressed—like African Americans, women, gays—take your pick,” Carens added.