At a rally held in front of the John Harvard statue last month, City Councillor Jim Braude issued a forceful warning to Harvard on behalf of Cambridge's governing body.

"If Harvard wants to build a new building and comes to the City Council, all nine of us will say, 'Implement a living wage, and we'll talk,'" Braude told the cheering crowd of about 200.

The council has spoken out in favor of Harvard enacting a living wage in the past, but Braude's ultimatum, linking the University's wage policy with the council's stance on Harvard development projects, has won support from neither the majority of the council nor University administrators.

And while city councillors all express support for the living wage and have urged Harvard to act, only a few have voiced support for Braude's threats to halt Harvard's Cambridge development in its tracks.

Living Wage or Else?

All nine councillors are on the record in support of a living wage. Last month the council unanimously passed a resolution calling for Harvard to enact a living wage for all University employees--the second time the council has done so.

Last spring, the council passed a $10 minimum hourly wage for all employees of the city of Cambridge, and recently raised it to $10.25--prompting the Harvard living wage campaign to up its demands.

And while the Ad-Hoc Faculty Committee on Employment Policies will release recommendations to reform University labor policy tomorrow, none of the councillors know what to expect.