VICTORY!!!

Today, the security guards unanimously ratified a contract with AlliedBarton!!!

The main points are:

• Three step grievance procedure: 1) Account Manager, 2) District or Area Manager, 3) Director of Human Resources - with time limits for response
• Unsettled grievance can be taken to arbitrator (neutral judge)
• 4 hours minimum pay if called in to work; 4 hours minimum pay if shift or detail cancelled without notice
• Fair distribution of overtime and extra hours
• Schedule cannot be cut as a form of discipline
• Carryover for vacation up to a maximum of 20 days - or cash out
• 3 out of 12 sick days can be used as personal days with no less than 48 hours notice except in emergencies
• 2 days paid funeral leave for death in immediate family
• Uniform deposit of $200 required; company will cover cost of uniforms that must be dry cleaned
• Company paid $10,000 life insurance policy
• Pay for time in mandatory training classes
• Company to make reasonable provisions for safety and health of officers
• Lay off by seniority
• Job opening posted, current employees get preference by seniority and qualifications. You can find out why you did not get the job.
• 20 elected union stewards to help enforce the contract; right to have steward with you in meeting that could lead to discipline

Employees shall be placed in classifications and compensated in accordance with said classifications upon achieving the criteria of the various classifications set forth below:

Security Officer I: Classification upon new hire
Security Officer II: Classification upon successful completion of AlliedBarton MSO 1,2,3
Security Officer III: Classification upon successful completion of AlliedBarton MSO 1,2,3,4
Security Officer IV: Classification upon successful completion of AlliedBarton MSO 1,2,3,4,5
Lead Officer: MSO Level 5 and placement in said classification by the Employer

MSO Certification requires established length of service criteria as follows:
MSO 3 - 6 months
MSO 4 - 12 months
MSO 5 - 18 months (3 of 4 officers at Harvard have been here more than 18 months)

The wages officers were scheduled to receive:

Now: $12.68
7/1/07: $12.87
7/1/08: $13.13
7/1/09: $13.40

Prepare Yourself for Civil Disobedience

Security guards are still fighting for fair wages and affordable healthcare. AlliedBarton seems to think it is reasonable that some officers are paying as much as $200 per month for family healthcare. AlliedBarton seems to think it is reasonable that officers who agree to take the most difficult, night-shifts do not receive extra pay - unlike every other service worker on campus. We disagree!

The fight is not won, yet. Let's make sure Harvard and AlliedBarton know that we will not accept an unfair contract. Living wage now! Affordable healthcare now!

Everyone who will be sticking around campus: familiarize yourself with this civil disobedience training - it will come in handy soon!

-Stand for Security Coalition

Donate to the Strike Fund!

With incredibly high turnout, security officers have unanimously voted to endorse a strike.

They are still in bargaining with AlliedBarton, their direct employer, but have yet to see a wage proposal that adequately reflects that wages they deserve. If security officers are forced to strike to secure a fair and decent contract, we are prepared to stand behind them 100%.

Going on strike is a big risk for security officers and we are disappointed that Harvard and AlliedBarton have allowed the campaign to come to this point. We hope that the involved parties will make progress in negotiations in the upcoming days, and a strike can be avoided. However, we MUST prepare for a strike and we are asking for supporters to donate to the strike fund.

Ways to Support the Strike Fund

• Donate online!
• Securely donate via PBHA
• Please type "SLAM Strike Fund" under Specific Needs to make sure your money goes to the right place.
• Mail/Drop-Off Donations
• Student Labor Action Movement, Phillips Brooks House, Harvard Yard, 02138
• Or just drop off your donation in our mailbox!
• Donation Stations
• Look for notices for Donation Stations in your dining hall! or contact slam@hcs.harvard.edu and we can pick up your donation if you are in the Harvard-area.

ALL MONEY WILL BE REFUNDED IF THERE IS NO STRIKE!

We are also encouraging people to think of creative ways to raise money. You could...

• Donate proceeds from your senior sale
• Have a bake sale in your dining hall
• Donate your senior gift to the strike fund instead
• Send this to your family and friends
  
• Whatever else you can think of!!

If you are able to contribute, whatever amount, please consider doing so. Officers are risking a lot in this strike and will greatly appreciate your support.

Support from the Class of 1957

The undersigned members of the Harvard Class of 1957 had prepared the following letter to be sent to President Bok, President-Elect Faust, the Harvard Corporation and the Crimson, when they learned of the interim settlement of the dispute involving the University, campus security guards and student activists. We are sending this letter to The Crimson now because the announced settlement does not demonstrate to us any change in Harvard management's basic anti-labor policy.


As we prepare to gather for our 50th Reunion, we are saddened to learn that Harvard, once again, has failed the test of accommodation to a demand for social justice.

With the power and wealth Harvard has at its disposal, for the University to dismiss with a fine impartiality the demand of security guards for a living wage, for compensation comparable to Harvard's other service employees, is unconscionable. For the University to claim that it is not a party to the dispute because it involves a Harvard contractor and its employees is, to say the least, disingenuous.

Why do students have to go on a hunger strike to engage the University? Why is it that, on issue after issue, going back for years, Harvard's first response to an appeal for equity is to resist?

We have seen a long-term pattern of failure to protect the civil liberties of students and faculty, cooperation with government witchhunts, discrimination in faculty appointments on political, racial and sexual grounds, and failure to take a strong and moral position against those forces that perpetuate discrimination and injustice. Harvard too often pays lip service to humanistic values but aligns itself in practice with repressive forces.

It is long past time for the University to put its money where its mouth is.

Emile C. Chi
Chester W. Hartman
James N. Perlstein
Michael D. Tanzer

ITS NOT OVER YET!

the hunger strike is over...
the fight continues!


RALLY! RALLY! RALLY!
2pm @ Holyoke Ctr
Thurs, May 17th


thousands have signed onto the campaign.
hundreds have come out to our daily rallies.
we've set the stage for a fair & decent contract,
NOW we must continue the pressure until the papers are signed!

people from all across the city will be coming out to show their support for security officers and their impending strike. i know everyone is busy with finals, but we can't let this campaign go just yet. please come out and bring everyone you know!

Boston Herald covers the end of the strike

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=1000813

Chomsky's message of support

Prof. Noam Chomsky contributed to our campaign and wrote to administrators at Harvard. Here is his message of support for us:

I would like to express my firm support and admiration for your courageous actions in putting yourselves on the line to support the elementary rights of campus workers at Harvard, and wish you the greatest success in this honorable efforts.
- Noam Chomsky

Hunger Strike Ends: VIDEO of Day 9

Thanks once again to Aaron Tanaka:

Statement of Support from Dr. Bernard Steinberg, Director of Harvard Hillel

Dr. Steinberg just sent us a letter of support:

I am writing to support the Stand for Security Campaign and students who ask: Does not this great university have the fiscal, political, and moral resources to guarantee that the people who protect our students earn a decent wage? Legalistic or bureaucratic answers, evasions of responsibility, have not been (nor will be) convincing because the fundamental question is moral. Such moral questions are not abstract.

In the Jewish tradition, justice and compassion, not to be confused with the concept of justice or the concept of compassion, express our ability to recognize and respond to living people with whom we are connected. What is at stake is our response-ability, with heart and body, to enable the dignity of our fellow members of the Harvard community with whom students interact daily on a face-to-face basis.

Isaiah, a Jewish teacher who lived in the 7th century BCE, cried out to the people of Jerusalem: “You oppress all your workers!” and implored: “Share your bread with the hungry; take the poor into your home, and do not ignore your own kin.”

We at Harvard must take care of our own, of our people who care for the lives of our students.

Bernie Steinberg, Director, Harvard Hillel

The Hunger Strike ends; Next phase of campaign begins

We ended our strike primarily because the workers were very concerned about our health and wanted us to end, but before we ended we got some concessions from today morning's talks with Harvard admin. More importantly, the workers told us that our pressure broke a 26 day impasse in negotiations, and that Allied-Barton agreed to more dates of negotiation and also finally came through with a wage proposal.

Here are the concessions from today's talks, summarized.

1. A letter signed by Marilyn Hausammann, reaffirming the university's commitment to those of our demands that were in line with the Katz Committee's recommendations, pertaining to subcontractors, including
a: Wages and benefits: - not using outsourcing to lower wages and weaken unions.
- employment an contacting practices should reflect humane concern for all employees whether directly employed or not
- being a good employer is defined as providing wages benefits and other conditions of employment neccessary to attract, retain and motivate employees, and compensation levels that contribute to ensuring that workers and their families enjoy at least a minimally decent standard of living
b: Due grievance process and fair treatment
- Workers should be treated with dignity and respect by supervisors, fellow workers and other members of the Harvard community.
- No employees at Harvard should be subject to intimidation, retaliation, or abuse by supervisors or others in authority positions relative to them.

2. In the letter is also a provision regarding an audit of Allied Barton's compliance or non compliance with the Wages and Benefits Parity Policy. At our last meeting we won an expedited audit that will be complete by early next week (we were told Monday or Tuesday though this date is not on the letter; instead they state "the week of May 14").

In this letter coming out of this meeting, they promise to
- make the audit results public
- arrange a meeting with reps from SLAM and other members of the community (they agreed to worker and faculty representation at the meeting) as soon as possible after the audit
- more than one meeting to discuss these issues.

We stated at the meeting that we expect to deal with the specific ways in
which Allied-Barton is non-compliant with the Wages and Benefits Parity
Policy, but also with the ways in which Harvard has implemented the WBPP.

------
Onward into the next phase of struggle! This struggle is working, but what
we have done so far means nothing if we fizzle out and don't keep up the
pressure until the point in time when it will be most effective ie: when the
negotiations between Allied-Barton and the union come through. If the guards
end up with a bad contract, what we have so far counts for nothing. Its
value is only as groundwork moving towards a better contract.