Harvard Security Campaign

The hunger strike is over, but the fight for a fair contract continues! Tell Harvard to respect workers' rights!

Friday May 11 at 1pm, the 9 remaining Harvard hunger strikers ended their fast in front of a crowd of students, workers, faculty, and community members. The decision to end the strike came on the same day as a meeting between students and top University administrators, including University Vice-President Alan Stone, Vice-President of Human Resources Marilyn Haussamann, and Director of Labor Relations William Murphy. Boston City Council Member Charles "Chuck" Turner and Harvard Professor of History John Womack were also in attendance. At the meeting, the University conceded to two key student demands.

After the meeting, students were notified of the security guards' request that they end their fast. As guards offered the hunger strikers their first meal in 9 days, workers and students together pledged to escalate the campaign in an upcoming week of actions. The guards thanked the students for the public attention they had already brought to the issue of low wages on Harvard's campus, and promised to work with them to apply additional pressure on both the University and AlliedBarton, its security contractor.

Hunger striker Kaveri Rajaraman expressed both excitement over Harvard's new concessions and reservations about their partial nature. Commenting on Harvard's statement, "We are very far from winning a fair contract," she said, "but this was an important and urgently needed first step. Now it is time to ensure that this progress actually leads to a fair contract." Rajaraman also cited the numerous victories the campaign had already won during the last week, emphasizing AlliedBarton's recent decision to return to the table with a wages counteroffer after 26 days of stalled negotiations, recent meetings between student labor activists and Harvard administrators, who were forced to respond to the week's daily rallies of hundreds of people, the 2300 supporters who signed the Stand For Security petition, and the mobilization of 30 campus student groups.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: I support Harvard's security guards.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to express my support for Harvard security officers as they bargain for a better contract. They are members of this community, they are fathers and mothers, they are friends and neighbors, and they should expect to be rewarded fairly for the hard work they do. $12.68/hour is not nearly enough to support a family in the Boston area; paying basic bills should not be a daily struggle. Security officers deserve wages as high as any other service workers on campus, safe and sanitary working conditions, full-time employment, fair procedures, and the right to organize! Would you accept anything less for yourselves?

I am appalled that a university that purports to hold so much wisdom could be so ignorant of the basic needs and rights of people. I am appalled that a university that believes all students should be trained in "moral reasoning" could reason so immorally. Stop denying your responsibility and start standing for security!

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 07, 2007

Background Information

In the meeting with Harvard administrators, Stand For Security Coalition members made several immediate demands regarding the security guards hired through subcontractor AlliedBarton, including a statement to AlliedBarton in support of a wage hike, a guarantee of full-time employment, worker's right to due process in termination procedures, and the right to organize. Harvard published a signed statement emphasizing the University's "duty owed to all employees," recognizing specifically that "The University's employment and contracting practices should reflect a humane concern for the well-being of all individuals who work at Harvard, regardless of whether they are directly-employed for Harvard or work on campus for a contractor." Once again, Harvard reaffirmed that "outsourcing should not be used to lower wages," adding a clause about weakening unions representing Harvard employees. In the same meeting Stand For Security Coalition members discussed the formation of an independent committee of workers, students, faculty, and administrators to provide an objective assessment of Harvard's Wages and Benefits Parity Policy's effectiveness in guaranteeing satisfactory working conditions for in-house and outsourced security guards. The charge of any such committee would include the examination of the Coalition's claims that Harvard's policies fail to ensure wages on par with other campus service workers—such as janitors and dining hall workers—and with security guards at other comparable universities. The Committee, while not an immediate answer to the problems at hand, would be a step towards a longer-term guarantee against similar issues in the future.