Bozzotto, the Food Service Workers Union official, says dining hall workers were not invited to join the new alliance. He says the coalition was formed simply to serve one "The building trades have a tendency to wantjoint coalitions when they're in trouble and notwant them when they're in trouble and not wantthem when they're not in trouble," Bazzotto says."A real coalition means no matter who's introuble, everyone comes to their aid. Thosecoalitions we're serious about." But the building trades union denies that thedining workers were excluded. Nigro saysBozzotto--who advocates a militant, "take noprisoners" stance when dealing with theUniversity--is isolating dining services workersfrom the mainstream of the labor movement. "It's amazing that [the food service workers]are not partaking in the coalition of unions,working in a spirit to make Harvard a betterplace," Nigro says. "You can complain aboutHarvard all you want, but if you don't participatein the cooperative spirit ... you have no right tocomplain." "[Bozzotto has] been hot air for a long time,"he adds. "There is a time to be militant and thereis a time to work in cooperation at a table andnegotiate contracts that are satisfactory of bothsides." Bozzotto disagrees, arguing that Harvard doesnot respond to union demands unless the demandsare made from a position of strength. "By and large they've got to be convinced thatthe union is serious about protecting the standardthe workers have put together over the years,"Bozzotto says. Labor expert Patricia A. Greenfield, a laborrelations scholar at the University ofMassachusetts-Amherst, sides with Nigro, addingthat the union's posture should depend in part onthe University's stance. "Ultimately it comes down to whether the toplevel administration looks at the unions asorganizations that can work with the University toimprove the work life of the workers," saysGreenfield, who is director of the UMass LaborRelations and Research Center. "If the administration is committed to that,then the negotiations can certainly have apositive outcome," Greenfield says. "On the otherhand, if you have an administration that doesn'tlike unions ... [the negotiations] will not be apositive and constructive experience." Zeckhauser maintains that the Harvardadministration is committed to productivenegotiations. Like the union leaders, she refers toRudenstine's inaugural address, which she saysoutlined the vision that the University iscommitted to accomplish. "One of the things President Rudenstine did doit ... talk about Harvard as not just an academicinstitution but [as] a human institution,"Zeckhauser says. "We'd like to fulfill President Rudenstine'svision, not just for faculty and students, but forall people who work here as a valuable part ofthis community," she says.
Advertisement