tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89266395249243283982024-03-06T00:32:46.080-05:00No Layoffs CampaignIn January 2012, as part of a Library "Re-organization" an unspecified number of layoffs were announced in the Harvard Library system. Unlike in 2008, its endowment has returned to profitability. Join us in building a struggle against layoffs at Harvard.
We stand in solidarity with all workers who are threatened with the pink slip and for reinstatement for those who have lost their jobs.Joshua Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16132394687533381352noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-65454789776366232572014-05-30T13:56:00.000-04:002014-05-30T13:58:14.633-04:00No Layoffs Campaigners Rock Harvard's Commencement, with the help of SLAM, the IWW, the Lantern Collective and Boston School Bus DriversYesterday HUCTW activists helped organize an action at the
world’s richest University’s Commencement Exercises. The Boston IWW spread the word about the action and brought local Wobblies to add to our forces. The Student Labor
Action Movement (SLAM) also helped us build for the event, and mobilized
their members to turn out. SLAM has been fiercely defending campus
workers for many years. Participants in the visibility action included
HUCTW’s Johany Pilar, facing ongoing retaliation for reporting sexual
harassment. Johany was called an “embarassing Latina” by a manager in
Harvard’s Campus Services. HUCTW Rep Nassim Kerkache, who also attended,
was demoted three salary grades by the same manager, who said his
English wasn’t good enough to be a Coordinator, the position he’d
occupied for nine years! HUCTW member Marvin Byrd was another subject of
the protest. Marvin, who uses braces to walk, was called “that dirty
black man,” by the very same administrator, and has been kept in a lower
salary grade than co-workers and threatened with termination. Paul
Casey, laid off after 30+ years of service shortly after he returned
from a disability leave, was another participant in the visibility
action. Paul was supposedly laid off for “lack of work,” although he was
very busy in his job. His duties were simply distributed to other
employees. Flyers we distributed to hundreds of graduates, families and
passers-by also called attention to the case of Judy Rouse. Judy, a
member of UNITE HERE Local 26, was fired by Harvard in retaliation for
being an active and effective shop steward.<br />
Highlights of the action included the huge surrealist puppets which
were kindly hauled to the protest and hoisted by local anarchists from
the Lantern collective. They got a lot of attention and made it easy to
pass out flyers! Everybody wanted to know what was going on when they
saw the striking figures, one enormous one bearing the motto “Mentiri”
or “to lie,” a play on Harvard’s Latin motto Veritas (truth). Wobs and
HUCTW members were also heartened by the solidarity from USW Local 8751,
the Boston School Bus Drivers’ Union. Drivers Steve Gilles and Steve
Kirschbaum, terminated for union activity, helped us hand out flyers and
support Harvard workers under attack. All photos by Le Le Lechat &
Steve Kirschbaum.<br />
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Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-59766235282148710442014-04-22T15:41:00.001-04:002014-04-22T15:41:52.274-04:00ARTICLE ON 4/18/14 PICKET SUPPORTING JOHANY PILAR, BY JONATHAN ADAMS OF OPEN MEDIA BOSTON<h1 class="title">
Harvard Staff Claims Retaliation by Management for Prior Sexual Assault Complaint</h1>
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<span class="date"><span>21 April 2014 - 7:48am</span></span>
| <span rel="sioc:has_creator"><span class="username">jadams</span></span> </div>
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by Jonathan Adams (Staff)
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Cambridge,
Mass. - An employee at the Harvard University Mail Services (HUMS) is
claiming that management in her department is retaliating against her
after she previously spoke out against alleged sexual harassment in her
workplace.<br />
Johany Pilar alleges that management is now “punishing” her due to
the complaints she made against a colleague in 2012, and because she
also claimed she was disciplined by management for making that initial
complaint.<br />
Around 30 demonstrators – and members of a number of groups including
the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), the
Student Labor Action Movement, the Industrial Workers of the World,
UNITE HERE, and Black Rose – took part in a rally at the Smith Campus
Center on Massachusetts Avenue on Friday in support of Pilar, and
calling on the Harvard University administration to listen to her
claims.<br />
In
an interview with Open Media Boston Pilar says she’s being treated
unfairly now, “because I wouldn’t shut my mouth [about] the sexual
harassment,” and added later that she wants “people to know what
happened to me.”<br />
Geoff Carens, a representative of HUCTW who’s helping Pilar with her
grievances told Open Media Boston in an interview, “basically she was
sexually harassed at work and when she complained about it management
disciplined her.”<br />
Carens explains that he helped organize a public campaign to support
Pilar in 2012, and says it attracted a lot of publicity that contributed
to HUMS management removing a disciplinary action against Pilar from
her file, promoting her three salary grades, and restoring sick time to
her.<br />
He claims “this September or so [management] started harassing her
again,” including one incident where “they had her in this enclosed
space,” and “held the door so she couldn’t get out,” despite being aware
that she has a panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.”<br />
They also “recently just started harassing her about her time off”
for doctor’s visits, says Carens, who claims management has been
“demanding ridiculous amounts of documentation” for such visits,
including one incident where her supervisor was “refusing” to believe
she had an emergency dental appointment until she provided evidence to
support her claim.<br />
Carens claims that management has “just been pushing her around,
giving her a hard time, and they’ve basically made the environment toxic
for her,” which has “really traumatized her,” and because of that, he
explains, “we’ve requested a transfer to an at least comparable
position” within the university.<br />
He claims that a former union member who “provided evidence to cut
across her sexual harassment and retaliation claims” was later promoted
and put in charge of Johnay, “so we feel he has a bias against her and
she needs to be out of that department.”<br />
Management has “tried to make her as unpopular as they can in the
department,” telling “co-workers that she’s a troublemaker,” claims
Carens.<br />
He also claims that HUMS is a “racist department,” where Pilar has been referred to as an “embarrassing Latina.”<br />
Given previous public demonstrations highlighting Pilar’s claims,
Carens says, “you would think that they would look at this as a stain on
the university’s reputation,” and “do something about this, but for
whatever reason management backed them up time after time” with legal
representation.<br />
During the interview, Pilar says, “I try to deal with my health … for
me to be OK, to be at work, to [get on] with my life, but they don’t
let me, there’s always something,” and she claims that that management
are often after her for one thing or another, which has made her
“uncomfortable.”<br />
“I hope Harvard people do something about it,” says Pilar, “because
before it was me, and who’s [going] to be the next one,” adding that, “I
hope it’s nobody,” and she says that she wants others to be “safe.”<br />
She says that the university administration “can change the
management,” and that “there are so many good people looking for a job.”<br />
Open Media Boston contacted Harvard University for a press statement,
but did not receive a response before the filing of this report.<br />
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Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-9119492842254278852014-04-22T15:38:00.000-04:002014-04-22T15:38:51.977-04:00IMAGES FROM 4/18/14 PICKET SUPPORTING HUCTW MEMBER JOHANY PILAR, ENDURING ONGOING RETALIATION FOR REPORTING SEXUAL HARASSMENT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-11782299950834622542014-04-16T17:59:00.000-04:002014-04-16T17:59:14.291-04:00FRIDAY 4/18, 5 PM, DEFEND JOHANY PILAR! PICKET AND PHONE EMAIL ZAP<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""><br /></span></span>
<div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""> HUCTW* member & activist Johany Pilar sued Harvard for sexual harassment, gender bias and
retaliation when she was repeatedly grabbed by a co-worker and
disciplined for reporting it. She was promoted 3 salary grades, and the
discipline w<span class="">as rescinded,
after a campaign which featured <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/10/19/students-protest-for-pilar/">picketing</a> and <a href="http://www.perspy.com/?tag=johany-pilar">public pressure</a>.
Recently HUMS** managers have renewed their retaliation against Johany,
yelling at her that she is a "trouble-maker," physically
holding the door to prevent her from leaving a closed room, and
harassing her about doctors' appointments. Let's stand up for Johany!<br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""><span class=""> </span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""><span class="">Supporters will gather in front of the Smith Campus Center (formerly Holyoke Ctr) at <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1350+Massachusetts+Avenue,+Cambridge,+MA&hl=en&sll=42.37839,-71.11291&sspn=0.084581,0.209255&oq=1350+mass+ave+cambridge&t=h&hnear=1350+Massachusetts+Ave,+Cambridge,+Massachusetts+02138&z=16">1350 Mass. Ave. Cambridge</a>
(very close to the Harvard Square Red Line MBTA stop and next to Au Bon
Pain), starting at 5 pm, this Friday, 4/18. You're invited to join us!
The Facebook event is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/233278573544799/?ref_notif_type=plan_user_joined&source=1">here</a>.</span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""><span class=""> <br />
Please phone and email Harvard's Director of Labor and Employee
Relations, William Murphy, at (617) 496-9193, bill_murphy@harvard.edu.
Suggested message: "It is reprehensible that HUMS management continues
to harass HUCTW member Johany Pilar. I demand you use your influence to
arrange a transfer for Johany into an at least comparable position. End
the culture of victim-blaming and retaliation at Harvard!"<br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""><span class=""> </span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""><span class="">*Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers / AFSCME Local 3650</span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""><span class=""><br /></span></span></span><div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class=""><span class=""> **Harvard University Mail Services</span></span></span></div>
</div>
Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-23449690690376530932013-09-06T16:31:00.001-04:002013-09-06T16:33:03.567-04:00Campaign to get Justice for Nassim, Paul and Mamadou Continues -- Workers and Students Picket on 8/26/13<h4>
As first year <span style="font-family: inherit;">students move in across the Harvard campus, activists in the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), and supporters from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW),</span> the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), and the community, gather to fight union-busting, discriminatory layoffs and racism in the workplace. Nassim, an immigrant from Algeria and employee of HUMS (Harvard University Mail Services), became a union rep this year for the first time this year, to swiftly face a demotion of three salary grades by a manager who told him his English isn't good enough to be a Coordinator (the position he's held for 9 years!). Paul's position was made "essential" in October 2012 (meaning it was so vital he had to report for work during weather emergencies). He then had surgery and had to take a disability leave. He was laid off from his newly "essential" position in Harvard's Science Center one month after returning from his approved leave. Management's excuse is that now there's suddenly not enough work to justify maintaining the position. Paul's duties were distributed to other staff, and his co-workers think he faced a discriminatory termination simply because he had to take time off for surgery. Mamadou has long worked in HUMS "less than half-time" employee. He gets no paid time off and just $11.50/hr for a workweek of just 17 hours. The HUCTW contract says Mamadou's position should have been a union job five years ago, but Harvard's representatives say the university (which has a $32 billion endowment) isn't in a position to do anything for Mamadou. The campaign to get justice for Nassim, Paul and Mamadou will continue during the Fall semester and for as long as necessary. </h4>
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<h4>
</h4>
Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-9882500495939364812013-07-22T14:49:00.000-04:002013-07-22T14:49:10.346-04:00Article from the Harvard Crimson about the 7/19/13 Picket Supporting Mamadou, Paul, and Nassim<h1>
Protesters Rally in Support of Mailroom Coordinator, Two Others</h1>
<h2 style="color: #999999; font-size: 1.5em; font-style: italic; margin: 3px 0 5px;">
University spokesperson declines to comment on worker’s, protesters’ allegations</h2>
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By <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1209925/Madeline_R._Conway/">Madeline R. Conway</a>, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER</div>
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<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/image/2013/7/21/rally-holyoke-circle-protest/">
<img alt="Protest Outside Holyoke" src="http://thumbnails.thecrimson.com.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/2013/07/21/232334_1288687.JPG.400x265_q95_crop-smart_upscale.jpg" title="Protest Outside Holyoke" />
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<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1209925/Madeline_R._Conway/">Madeline R. Conway</a>
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Protesters march late Friday afternoon outside of
Holyoke Center, chanting in support of University workers. The group
rallied in protest of what they claimed was discrimination and
retaliation against union involvement on the part of the University.
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<span> </span><br />
<span>A group of approximately 15 University workers, student labor activists, and union representatives gathered outside </span><span>Holyoke Center</span><span>
late Friday afternoon to protest what they claimed were instances of
discrimination against employees and retaliation against union activism
by Harvard.</span><br />
<span> </span><br />
<span>Carrying signs and marching in a circle, protesters chanted in support </span><span>of three workers, including Nassim </span><span>Kerkache,
who currently serves as coordinator of Harvard Yard Mail Center. In a
phone interview before the rally, Kerkache said he was informed at the
start of this month by management that there was no longer a need for a
coordinator for the mail center. He said he was given the choice of
accepting either an effective salary grade demotion or a layoff.</span><br />
<span> </span><br />
<span>Kerkache, who</span><span> said he has served in his current post for about nine years, </span><span>alleged that management’s actions were</span><span> motivated in part by racism and as retaliation against his involvement with the </span><span>Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers</span><span>. Kerkache serves as a local representative in the union.</span><br />
<span> </span><br />
Kerkache, who first <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/series/harvard-personalities/article/2011/10/9/mail_center_interview/">moved to the United States</a>
from Algeria in 1994, claimed that his manager had previously made
comments criticizing his English skills, education, and manners, which
he said he found offensive.<br />
When asked about Kerkache’s
allegations, University spokesperson Kevin Galvin declined to comment,
saying he would not speak regarding personnel matters. Kerkache’s
manager did not respond to requests for comment Friday.<br />
<span> </span><br />
<span>Kerkache
said that he was originally told that to stay employed by the
University he would have to take a position three salary grades lower
than his current role. According to union representative </span><span>Geoff Carens, </span><span>Harvard
University Mail Services has since offered to move Kerkache to a
position that is one salary grade, rather than three, below his current
position.</span><br />
<span>Still, Carens, who helped lead the protest
outside Holyoke Friday, said in an interview after the demonstration
that he and Kerkache would “definitely” consider taking legal action if
Kerkache is not allowed to stay at his current salary grade. Carens said
he is currently waiting to hear back from a Harvard human resources
representative in the midst of correspondence about Kerkache’s case.</span><br />
For his part, Kerkache said the situation was a “shock” to him. “I love my job. I’ve been here for a long time,” he said.<br />
<span>Demonstrators
also spoke out Friday against what they described as the unfair
treatment of two other workers employed by the University. They
supported Harvard University Mail Services employee Mamadou Ndiaye, who
protesters alleged has unfairly been given fewer work hours than he
wants, and Paul J. Casey, a maintenance technician who protesters
claimed has been laid off because he took a disability leave. </span><span>Galvin declined to comment on Ndiaye and Casey’s cases as well.</span><br />
<span> </span><br />
—Staff writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://www.twitter.com/MadelineRConway">@MadelineRConway</a>.<br />
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Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-68943819532614237412013-07-21T20:54:00.000-04:002013-07-21T20:54:59.960-04:00Images from blazing 100-degree July 19 Protest in Support of Nassim, Mamadou and Paul<h3>
Nassim became a union rep this year after 19 years at Harvard. On July 19 he was told he would have to accept a demotion of three salary grades, or be laid off, by a manager who told him his English isn't good enough to be a Coordinator (the postion he's held for 9 years!). Mamadou is being held to a 17 hr/wk, $11.50/hr "less than half-time" position, which he's endured for five years, even though the HUCTW contract says the use of such positions by management is supposed to be "exceptional and strictly limited." Paul, who has 31 years' experience, had his position made "essential" in October, had surgery in January, and returned from a disability leave in March only to be laid off in April, supposedly because there's not enough work in his newly "essential" position. Co-workers believe he was laid off because management was afraid he'd need to take more time off from work. </h3>
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<br />Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-31220625288603315232013-07-21T20:46:00.000-04:002013-07-21T20:46:13.831-04:00Flyer for July 19 action supporting Harvard employees Nassim, Paul and Mamadou, and protesting union-busting, layoffs and discrimination. <br />
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<br /> Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-16379523202089385232013-06-04T16:12:00.000-04:002013-06-04T16:12:38.424-04:00Images from 5/31/13 Protest at Harvard's Commencement Exercises: HUCTW members & allies protest racist & discriminatory layoffs at the Science Center and University Financial Services (UFS)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRm0lm_fAS9PeL0783ty0hpFpQYaSlPY11HgDyMZOoSnH88l6ep9bKfjOLIRFbBWkHsnKJaRCekeFAMeob0y656FKL9KQrAMN06eVYBQ1x9lXKYkvkNWPKSDi0zCC-ZA942yInhVZU7o/s1600/commencement1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRm0lm_fAS9PeL0783ty0hpFpQYaSlPY11HgDyMZOoSnH88l6ep9bKfjOLIRFbBWkHsnKJaRCekeFAMeob0y656FKL9KQrAMN06eVYBQ1x9lXKYkvkNWPKSDi0zCC-ZA942yInhVZU7o/s640/commencement1.jpg" width="640" /></a>Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-55091461635385898492013-06-04T16:04:00.000-04:002013-06-04T16:04:16.811-04:00Flyer for 5/31 Protest Against Racist & Discriminatory Layoffs @ Harvard's Commencement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-42169919976078860442013-04-25T19:08:00.001-04:002013-04-25T19:17:04.802-04:00Images from 4/23/13 Picket Against Racist Layoffs in University Financial Services, Supported by No Layoffs Campaign, Student Labor Action Movement, IWW, Common Struggle, Harvard Socialists, SEIU<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-46982044109910110812013-04-25T18:51:00.000-04:002013-04-25T18:51:59.520-04:00Harvard Crimson Article on 4/23/13 Protest Against Racist Layoffs In Harvard's University Financial Services (UFS)<h1>
Employees, Students Protest Against University Financial Services, Citing Discriminatory Layoffs</h1>
<div class="article-byline">
By <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1209926/Christine_Y.%20_Cahill/">Christine Y. Cahill</a>, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER</div>
<div class="article-date">
<br /></div>
<div id="article-image-side">
<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/image/2013/4/24/labour_rally/">
<img alt="" src="http://media.thecrimson.com/photos/2013/04/23/235338_1287124_400x602.jpg" title="" />
</a>
<div class="article-image-credit">
<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1210206/Daniel%20_J._Hilhorst/">Daniel J. Hilhorst</a>
</div>
<div class="article-image-caption">
Alex L. Chen '16 and Gabriel H. Bayard '15, members
of the Student Labor Action Movement, protest layoffs in University
Financial Services outside the Holyoke Centre on Tuesday.
</div>
</div>
<div id="text">
Around 25 Harvard employees and students gathered in
front of the Holyoke Center on Tuesday afternoon to protest what they
allege to be the discriminatory layoffs of three workers at University
Financial Services.<br />
The protesters marched in a circle in front of
the Holyoke Center with signs bearing the slogans, “Harvard is not
poor!” and “Harvard, don’t discriminate!”<br />
UFS informed a group of
employees in March of last year that they were entering a six-month
period during which their work would be evaluated, according to a letter
received by Sarah Tate, one of the notified workers who was later laid
off.<br />
“The next six months will be considered a transition
period...your continuation in this role...is contingent upon your work
performance and skills development meeting the needs of your expanded
role,” wrote Human Resources Officer Michelle A. Roach in a letter to
Tate.<br />
Geoffrey P. Carens, a library assistant who is two of the
laid-off workers’ representative in the Harvard Union of Clerical and
Technical Workers, said that the workers were evaluated based on their
speed of completing assigned work. He alleges that UFS did not lay off
Caucasian workers who performed at a slower rate than the two workers he
is representing.<br />
Bill Jaeger, the Director of HUCTW, declined to comment on the allegations of discrimination.<br />
Both of the laid off workers present at the rally emphasized their hard work and dedication to the University.<br />
“I
have been here ten years, loyal, working through vacations and when
they call an emergency situation,” Tate said. “What offends me most is
that there is no doubt in my mind that my performance level was great.”<br />
The University does not comment on personnel matters, according to a University spokesperson in an email to The Crimson.<br />
However,
the spokesperson highlighted Harvard’s employment policies, which
state, “in compliance with applicable federal and state laws and local
ordinances, the University does not discriminate in the terms and
conditions of employment”.<br />
Carens said that the goal of the protests is to get the employees rehired.<br />
“This
is likely going be an ongoing campaign because management has so far
shown absolutely no willingness to bend on their position that these
people were laid off because they were too slow,” Carens said.<br />
The
protest was the third action this year on behalf of the laid off
workers. Carens said that the group plans to hold a protest at
Commencement in May if their allegations are not addressed by the
University before then.<br />
—Staff writer Christine Y. Cahill can be reached at christinecahill@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @cycahill16.<br />
</div>
Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-44231084969827232722013-03-13T11:23:00.000-04:002013-04-25T19:23:39.147-04:00IMAGES FROM MARCH 7 PROTEST AGAINST HARVARD'S RACIST LAYOFFS; HUCTW members & allies turn out for women of color targeted for termination at University Financial Services (UFS), on a snowy evening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-29467523342036042312013-02-12T18:56:00.000-05:002013-02-12T18:57:24.722-05:00Great piece by James Cersonsky in Labor Notes, reporting destructive changes in Harvard's Libraries<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Harvard Library Workers Resist Top-Down Restructuring and Austerity</span><br />
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February 12, 2013 / James Cersonsky <br />
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.. ..The world's wealthiest university is squeezing workers with a new "shared services" model. <br />
With an endowment of $32 billion, Harvard is the wealthiest university in the world. Upon rebounding from the recession, the university is remodeling all its dorms, expanding its online course program, and constructing a new science center. Its library workers, meanwhile, have gotten the short end of the stick. <br />
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Workers beat back threatened mass layoffs last spring, but are now enduring the consolidation of their work in a new “shared services” model that translates into bigger workloads and fragmented work relationships. Now, along with the rest of Harvard’s clerical and technical employees, library workers are mobilizing for a fair—and long-overdue—contract.<br />
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Evolving Expectations<br />
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With more than 55 miles of bookshelves, Harvard boasts the largest academic library system in the world. Its range of archives and specialized resources are a major draw for scholars and the backbone of the university’s academic culture.<br />
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Nonetheless, university leaders concluded last spring that the Library was lagging behind the “evolving expectations of the 21st century scholar.” Their restructuring initiative, launched with hype more typical of a social media IPO than of a library, has been a blow to workers and patrons alike.<br />
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In its initial cost-cutting, Harvard offered 280 workers an early retirement incentive, which 63 accepted—further shrinking a workforce already down to 900, from 1,200 in 2009.<br />
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Activists credit persistent action—including a March picket in the blinding snow and a rally during commencement—for holding the number of direct library layoffs below 10.<br />
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Staff cuts are only one plank of a broader shift in Library governance. At the recommendation of a management consulting firm and a two-year in-house study, the 73 libraries on campus have been merged into one “Harvard Library.”<br />
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A subset of workers—access services and technical services—have new duties, and in some cases new worksites, as part of a “shared services” structure. These workers run the Library’s bread-and-butter operations: cataloging books, responding to patron inquiries, supervising student workers, managing the library’s website, and processing book loans from other universities.<br />
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Through centralization, Harvard hopes to unify book collection, streamline user access, reduce costs, and, as Provost Alan Garber wrote in a campus-wide letter, “leverage Harvard’s buying power.”<br />
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Others see university policy differently. “This is not about some neutral process called ‘modernization,’ as the administration would have it,” says Rudi Batzell, a graduate student in history. Batzell thinks Harvard is shifting resources away from low-return fields—the humanities and social sciences—towards “more costly but also more profitable, high-return sectors, such as the hard sciences, pharma, bio-engineering.”<br />
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The data support Batzell. The university’s latest financial report shows an uptick in staffing for cell biology, chemistry, and applied sciences, but declines in the Library and other non-science divisions. <br />
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Shared Sacrifice <br />
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A “shared services” model often entails de-skilling. At a number of universities, converting to a shared-services model for academic departments has detached workers from their localized knowledge and stripped their workplaces of the relationships that help the departments function.<br />
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For example, a worker who deals with finances, student advising, and logistics for a particular department, and has years of ingrained department-specific expertise, could be reassigned to several departments to do only financial work. In the case of the University of California at Berkeley, shared-service workers are being relocated to a different building far away from the departments and divisions they used to serve. <br />
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“People who you’ve worked side by side with for years are classed as a completely different type of worker,” says Desiree Goodwin, a circulation supervisor and 18-year veteran who is part of Harvard’s new structure. “I just discovered that they are going to send me to work at another library for a few hours. You don’t work at a single site, you work at sites all over campus.”<br />
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Goodwin adds that she is no longer responsible for responding to inquiries from patrons about reference and research materials, which her professional library degree qualifies her to do. <br />
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Even before the libraries’ wholesale makeover, workers could cite issues with service after earlier rounds of restructuring and cuts. Smaller libraries are understaffed, often down to only one person on duty. The proportion of temp and student workers, who require significant training from permanent staff, has sharply increased. Outsourcing to external vendors and changes in cataloging have made filing and finding books more difficult.<br />
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Under the revamped system, workers face even greater workloads and new forms of micromanagement. Karen O’Brien says that this fall, for the first time in her 25 years at Harvard, managers are receiving notices of employees’ “error rates,” which, she says, could be a way of weeding out “under-performing” staff.<br />
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Under a similar push in University Financial Services, employees have been fired for not processing invoices fast enough. The logic of the performance measurements—employees must work at or above average speed 75 percent of the time—makes it impossible for everyone to succeed.<br />
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Meanwhile, most workers aren’t getting paid any extra to work under the new system.<br />
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Coordinated Resistance<br />
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The full-time non-managerial staff who remain at the Library make up a quarter of AFSCME Local 3650, the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW).<br />
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The union has been without a contract since July 2012, and negotiations are stuck in the mud. According to staff organizer and former clerical worker Carrie Barbash, wages and health care are the main sticking points. Wages would remain largely stagnant under university proposals, and employee health plan contributions would go up—hitting lowest-paid staff the hardest.<br />
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Over the fall, workers gathered for rallies, flyered outside major Harvard events, and drafted hundreds of letters and holiday cards to the administration to push for a fair contract. This spring, Barbash says, the union is planning to bring in mediators while ramping up actions.<br />
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Last spring, rank-and-file activists staged rolling protests. “Many of the library workers who may have sat on the sidelines in the past came out in huge numbers,” says Geoff Carens, a reference and multimedia librarian and a leader of the Reform-HUCTW caucus. “The fact that we did the number of rallies that we did, particularly at commencement, probably held off the worst.”<br />
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The reform caucus, Carens says, has been around “pretty much as long as the local has existed.” It calls for more membership meetings, encourages pickets to defend workers, and opposes all layoffs.<br />
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Workers protesting the layoffs enjoyed support from students, faculty, maintenance and dining staff, and even non-union librarians and department managers.<br />
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Occupy Harvard, a collective of students and workers, waged an open-hours occupation at the Lamont Library Café for a week last February. There, students and staff hosted think tanks and workshops on the role of the Library and the needs of patrons and staff. They also phonebanked alumni and donors to speak out against the cuts.<br />
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A. Abbott Ikeler, a 1965 Harvard grad and retired English professor, wrote to President Drew Faust, “To dismiss outright, rather than retain and if necessary retrain, numbers of long-serving, hard-working library employees strikes me as an exercise perhaps worthy of a jumped-up, for-profit organization.”<br />
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Another source of resistance (whose membership overlaps with other efforts) is the Library Forum, founded last spring as a space for staff, faculty, and students to assert their stake in university policy.<br />
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Calling for “a library with a human face,” members wrote in an April vision statement: “It will look to the values of its own community of users and workers…and not to business consultants and statistical comparisons.”<br />
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James Cersonsky is a Philadelphia-based writer and labor activist. Find him on Twitter @cersonsky.<br />
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<br />Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-35212877895570883422013-01-30T14:56:00.000-05:002013-01-30T14:56:13.455-05:001/30/13 Article from Harvard Crimson on HUCTW Contract Talks HUCTW Urges University to Agree with Favorable Contract Negotiations<br />
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By Christine Y. Cahill, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER<br />
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Members of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers and student supporters protested outside of Massachusetts Hall all day on Tuesday to urge the University to agree to favorable terms in continuing contract negotiations.<br />
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The previous contract between the University and HUCTW—which represents more than 4,600 non-faculty Harvard staff—expired July 1 of last year. Because the two sides have been unable to agree on the details of the new contract, the old contract is still in effect. The two largest points of disagreement in the negotiations involve salary increases and health care benefits.<br />
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“The salary increase that the University is holding us at is not good enough,” Linda Kluz, Communications Coordinator at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, said. “It doesn’t even meet the rise in the cost of living.”<br />
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At 5:30 p.m., 20 protesters stood outside Mass. Hall, holding signs bearing the message “Invest in the Staff.” Protesters were present all day Tuesday starting at 8:30 a.m., and the group plans to protest at the same time every Tuesday and Thursday until the negotiations are resolved.<br />
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“The University is for all of us,” said Susan M. Kinsella, an administrative coordinator in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology department who is also on the executive board of HUCTW. “We don’t want anything except for what we think we deserve as outstanding staff members that help keep the University going.”<br />
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In a statement released on Thursday, the University said that wage offers made by the University in negotiations with HUCTW were “clearly consistent with the internal and external job markets.”<br />
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The University also said that its pay to HUCTW members was “very competitive” according to benchmark comparisons with the external market.<br />
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People walking through the Yard stopped to speak with the protesters, to learn more about the contract negotiations, or to voice their support.<br />
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The Student Labor Action Movement has organized a Solidarity Hour from 4 to 5 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, during which SLAM members will stand with the protesters to show their support for the union’s stance in the contract negotiations.<br />
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“The lack of respect and dignity for workers is outrageous, especially in a country that has so much prosperity,” Elena F. Hoffenberg ’16, a member of SLAM, said. “It’s very upsetting for me to be a part of a community where workers are being treated in such ways, so I’m doing everything I can to change that fact.”<br />
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Other students got involved in the HUCTW protests through the Unite Harvard Wintersession program, which focused on progressive action and activism at Harvard and was sponsored by 14 different student groups. Participants in the program joined the first HUCTW protest last Tuesday.<br />
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“I’m standing in solidary with all the HUCTW workers because it makes me angry that Harvard isn’t trying to negotiate,” said Keyanna Y. Wigglesworth ’16, who participated in Unite Harvard.<br />
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—Staff writer Christine Y. Cahill can be reached at christinecahill@college.harvard.edu.<br />
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Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-37019765238278395512013-01-19T15:47:00.001-05:002013-04-25T19:20:36.664-04:001/18/13 Picket protesting Harvard's discriminatory layoffs at University Financial Services<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-83427060439942690472012-11-27T11:50:00.004-05:002012-11-27T11:53:17.242-05:00Article from Harvard's Perspective Magazine: Mail Room Workers Under AttackBy Geoff Carens, Union Rep, Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), Member, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)<br />
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For many years the Harvard Yard Mail Center was a good place to work and a good place to visit. An article from the Harvard Crimson documents the camaraderie which had helped make the mail room a welcoming place for the hundreds of freshmen who visited to pick up their packages from home. However, a change of management over the past few years has brought repeated complaints of discrimination, well-attended protests by workers and students, and a steady drip of negative publicity that ought to call the new management’s policies into serious question. For almost twenty-five years I’ve acted as an elected union rep in the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW). I’ve represented union members all over campus, and I have seldom seen such an unfair and unsympathetic approach on the part of managers towards the staff. Three workers’ situations in particular shed light on the many problems found in this workplace.<br />
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Marvin Byrd, a 62-year-old African American, has worked in the mail room since 1995. Although Marvin suffers from diabetic foot disease, causing him to need foot braces to walk, he has a strong work ethic and is never content to sit home and collect a disability check. Marvin has consistently sought to augment his technical skills by taking computer courses. Making ends meet on a part-time schedule in the lowest salary grade in our union has been difficult, so Marvin has often put in huge numbers of overtime hours during busy times.<br />
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In the spring of 2011, a new management team from Harvard University Mail Services (HUMS) presented Marvin with an ultimatum: he could either accept a cut in his limited part-time schedule or be laid off. On May 12, 2011, Marvin received a letter which forced him to pick one of three “options”: a cut from 29 to 25 hours per week, spread over six days; an even sharper cut to just 20 hours per week; or the unemployment line. The letter stated, “We need a response no later than Friday May 20, 2011. If no response, the layoff package will be the elected option.”<br />
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Marvin asked me to be his union rep, and we invoked the grievance procedure laid out in our union contract. We met over many months with two different teams of problem-solvers, each team including one representative from management and one from the union. Marvin and I offered specific proposals in an effort to seek compromise with HUMS administrators. However, throughout the whole process, management has not budged from their initial position. They never offered Marvin any choices other than the ones presented in May 2011, and he could not afford to lose his job or work only 20 hours per week. So, even though he is the oldest worker in the unit and the only one who must use braces to walk, Marvin was forced to accept a curtailed schedule of just 25 hours per week spread over a mandatory six day week. Marvin has a tough commute from subsidized housing in Lynn, made more difficult by his disability. He often gets just a few hours of work in the mail room before he must get back on public transportation for the long ride home.<br />
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Although HUMS management has stonewalled the union during the grievance process, Marvin refused to take their actions against him lying down. He filed complaints of discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, and disability at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD). On a chilly day last December, a group of workers and students demonstrated against management’s harsh treatment of Marvin, but their approach since then has not changed. HUMS manager Betsy Shortell even emailed Marvin to accuse him of missing a meeting that she planned outside his work hours. Shortell wrote, “You missed a SCHEDULED hr meeting that we now have to come give just to you.” Although she later admitted Marvin wasn’t even supposed to be on duty during the meeting, some animus against him apparently remains. Marvin applied for a promotion from his entry-level job more than four months ago. Although his contract states that he should have received a reply in four weeks, management has still not given him an answer.<br />
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Like Marvin, Mamadou Ndiaye has worked at Harvard for many years. He has spent the past five of his fourteen years here working in the Science Center mail room. Mamadou is classified as a “less than half-time” worker, meaning he is not entitled to union membership, health benefits, Harvard contributions toward his retirement, tuition discounts, or any of the other important advantages which union membership brings. Despite his experience, he earns only $11.50 an hour. According to HUCTW’s contract, management’s use of less than half-time workers “should be exceptional and strictly limited, and never at the expense of regular benefited employment. In other words, everyone who does regular Harvard work on a regular basis deserves the benefit of regular employment.” If Mamadou worked 17.5 hours or more for longer than three months, his job could be converted into a regular union job with benefits. Instead he gets just 17 hours per week, as he has gotten throughout his time in the mail room.<br />
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Recently, Mamadou noticed two union jobs, whose minimum salary would be more than $16.50 per hour, posted online. After he made efforts to apply for the positions, they were removed from Harvard’s employment site, and Mamadou was told by management that they had been posted by mistake.<br />
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Like Marvin and Mamadou, long-serving employee Johany Pilar has suffered from a deteriorating working environment in the Science Center mail room. In late February and March, Johany, who is Latina and has worked in the mailroom since 1998, was repeatedly sexually harassed by a much older, married male co-worker. After Johany complained to management about the harassment, Shortell called and engaged in what struck Johany as victim-blaming. Johany remembers Shortell saying, “I can see you like to hug people,” as if Johany was somehow at fault for the unwanted advances and aggressive physical contact she had faced. Shortell instructed her to “…be nice, try to work together, try to work professionally,” with the person who had harassed her, and gave Johany the responsibility of training him. Feeling trapped, Johany reluctantly attempted to train this co-worker, but only faced more aggressive physical contact from her harasser. Ever since she first reported the unwanted grabbing and come-ons, Johany has been mistreated by HUMS managers.<br />
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This May, HUMS manager Chris Tolkacz demanded that Johany cancel a therapy appointment she had set up to cope with this sexual harassment and come to work instead. The pressure was so upsetting for Johany that she had a panic attack in the mail room, collapsed, injured her back, and had to be hospitalized. Johany’s doctor wrote that she could return to work after the hospitalization, but shouldn’t lift more than ten pounds for a week. Management refused to accommodate Johany’s back injury, demanding that she be cleared 100% before returning. As a result, Johany lost a week’s pay.<br />
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This wasn’t the end of Johany’s troubles. She tells me that Shortell confronted her in the mail room the morning of June 5, threatening an unspecified “big, big problem,” in the future. Three months later, Shortell made good on her threat, drafting an unfair disciplinary letter that specifically warned Johany that she could be fired. Johany had not received any discipline in 15 years of service at Harvard, until she complained of sexual harassment. Now, after standing up for her right to equal treatment on the job, that job is in jeopardy. She has filed complaints of gender discrimination and retaliation at the MCAD. And in October, she spoke movingly about her experience with rape culture and for fair treatment at work at a panel organized by the Harvard College International Women’s Rights Collective and several other groups.<br />
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Students, workers, and other community members have organized to support Johany. Eight student organizations and the Industrial Workers of the World signed on to an open letter to Harvard’s Labor Relations department decrying Johany’s treatment. On October 18, scores of workers and students picketed in support of Johany in front of the Holyoke Center; her co-workers Marvin Byrd and Mamadou Ndiaye, among others, spoke up for her at this demonstration. Her supporters held another spirited picket for her on November 16.<br />
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To date the only response from management has been a declaration stating that the mail room workers, including Johany, Marvin, and Mamadou, are now considered “essential staff,” expected to report for work even when the university is shut down during emergencies such as Hurricane Sandy. These workers were not considered “essential” until Marvin and Mamadou defended Johany in public. Mail room workers see this change in classification as just another example of the tit-for-tat retaliation, designed to undermine staff solidarity, which has characterized HUMS’s approach to management. The new policy will make things difficult for Marvin, as a result of his disability; for Johany, who has a heart condition; and for Mamadou, who has children who would not have school during such emergency days.<br />
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This is another bitter disappointment for workers in the Science Center mail room, who are becoming accustomed to such crushing news. One would think that all this controversy would pressure HUMS management to change their practices in a number of ways. For instance, HUMS would be wise to reinstate the previous mail room supervisor, HUCTW member Nassim Kerkache, who maintained a safe and equitable atmosphere. Management should remove the retaliatory discipline from Johany’s file and treat her much more sympathetically at work; they should grant Marvin’s request for promotion, which would be his first in 17 years; and they should finally extend to Mamadou regular employment with benefits. HUMS ought to rescind the new, punitive classification of mail room workers as “essential,” for the mail room workers do not do essential tasks like preparing food or insuring students’ safety. These small improvements would go a long way towards rectifying the conditions that have sparked so much angry protest.<br />
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Comments:<br />
These are horror stories. It enrages me that the University solicits donations from alumni/ae and yet figuratively beats up on some of its lowest paid employees. It’s hard to understand what HU gains by bringing in such management teams. How much money can they save by nickel and diming hard working employees and further by harrassing them and trying to rid themselves of employees with disabilities? They don’t teach the “virtue” of this kind of behavior to their undergraduates. Shameful.<br />
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Colleen Gaines Clark R64<br />
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November 24, 2012 at 12:03 pm<br />
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We are reminded, yet again, of why Harvard needs a union.Tradition is all very well in some things, but Harvard’s long and disgraceful history of mistreating its lower-paid employees should be discontinued, like yesterday. What a disgrace!<br />
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Mary H<br />
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November 24, 2012 at 12:56 pm<br />
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Harvard top management is directing the harassment of more and more workers while at the same time, refusing to negotiate decent union contracts. The clerical and technical workers union should have had a contract agreement in place by the end of June. Instead, Harvard offers up proposals that will only force a further decline in living standards on thousands of workers at Harvard and we enter the holidays with no agreement and many of us feeling the loss of income as a result of no agreement. As the richest university in the world, instead of setting a high, moral standard in labor relations, the Harvard Corp. has decided to attack the living standards, livelihoods and working conditions of the very people who do the work to make the university function. This is grossly unfair and completely unnecessary given Harvard’s vast (and largely hidden) wealth. The way the mailroom workers are being treated, the way so many of us are being disrespected by Harvard’s rotten labor policies, will not be forgotten. Perhaps President Faust should compare notes with Neil Rudenstine regarding the Living Wage Sit In in 2000 and subsequent re-awakening of the unions on campus. I, for one, feel another occupation coming on. And it’s long overdue.<br />
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Jeff Booth<br />
<br />
November 24, 2012 at 5:26 pm<br />
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<br />
Workers control! Workers control! Smash sexism and all other forms of oppression! One big union! A union for all workers!<br />
<br />
Haywood<br />
<br />
November 24, 2012 at 6:48 pm<br />
<br />Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-54379941029604233972012-11-18T19:47:00.003-05:002012-11-18T19:47:38.244-05:00Harvard Crimson Article on 11/16 Picket Supporting Johany Pilar, Against Rape Culture
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Protesters Hold Second Rally for Pilar</h1>
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By <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1208207/Samuel_Y._Weinstock/">Samuel Y. Weinstock</a>, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
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Published: Friday, November 16, 2012
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A group of roughly 30 people protested on Friday
afternoon on behalf of Johany Pilar, a mailroom worker who says that she
was sexually harassed by a co-worker.<br />
In an address to the
protesters, Pilar told her story about how a male co-worker grabbed her
on several occasions and said he wanted to kiss her. After a few
supporters gave additional speeches over a microphone outside the
Holyoke Center, the group circled the plaza and chanted.<br />
<span>“</span>We need help from you all,” Pilar said.<br />
At the end of the rally, she expressed her appreciation to those who had gathered on her behalf.<br />
<span>“</span>I would like to say thank you,” Pilar said. “I just want justice. That’s it.”<br />
As part of the rally, the protesters entered the Yard and
marched around Massachusetts Hall, which houses University President
Drew G. Faust’s office. Pilar and Geoff P. Carens, Pilar’s union
representative and a Harvard library assistant, handed an employee at
Massachusetts Hall a signed letter that included Pilar’s story and was
addressed to Faust. The group subsequently moved to circle the Science
Center, the building containing the mailroom where Pilar works.<br />
<span>“</span>I
think we’re really getting out there in the public eye,” said Carens,
who helped organize the rally, led many of the chants, and introduced
the speakers.<br />
Pilar has alleged that last spring, a man working
with her in the mailroom said he wanted to kiss her and twice grabbed
her face. Weeks later, Pilar said, he grabbed her hand.<br />
Pilar said
that after she reported the incidents, her managers threatened her with
disciplinary action or termination and prevented her from leaving work
to see a therapist. Pilar first publicly <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/10/12/mailroom-worker-reports-harassment/">told her story at a panel</a> on gender inequality and “rape culture” in mid-October. Friday’s event followed an initial<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/10/19/students-protest-for-pilar/"> rally on Pilar’s behalf</a> last month.<br />
University
spokesperson Kevin Galvin has repeatedly declined to comment on the
specific case, but he has said that Harvard takes allegations of sexual
harassment seriously and “maintains a policy of non-retaliation” so that
employees can come forward with complaints, which can then be
investigated.<br />
The letter, which Carens said garnered around 75
signatures, included demands that Pilar receive a new supervisor, a
removal of disciplinary warnings from her file, and “an end to the
pressure and threats.”<br />
—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu.<br />
</div>
</div>
Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-64501000591849873472012-11-16T20:54:00.000-05:002013-04-25T19:22:55.921-04:00Images from 11/16 Action Against Rape Culture, Supporting Johany Pilar!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-33668834966789407412012-11-13T18:01:00.003-05:002013-01-30T14:57:59.485-05:00Poster for November 16 Action Supporting Johany Pilar! by Noah McKenna<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbNGvzKnQTFOekBzuNg31CyIEC94-ddrjUIsfT4NKm3NZO_O0w_8E67qo4R9wNetbsqKv5nc-xStzz3KakH8xoYThawUreHCvFg2JZ6uGuTNOV3IhHSuUeiKYuk_d4HLK31zCmJbTXR4/s1600/Johany_IWW-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbNGvzKnQTFOekBzuNg31CyIEC94-ddrjUIsfT4NKm3NZO_O0w_8E67qo4R9wNetbsqKv5nc-xStzz3KakH8xoYThawUreHCvFg2JZ6uGuTNOV3IhHSuUeiKYuk_d4HLK31zCmJbTXR4/s320/Johany_IWW-1.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 20pt;">DEFEAT RAPE CULTURE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 36pt;">Justice for Johany!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif";">In February and March, Johany Pilar, member of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), was sexually harassed on the job. When she reported the harassment, administrators forbade her from giving hugs at work, as if she were somehow to blame for being harassed. In May a manager insistently demanded she cancel an appointment she had scheduled to deal with the unwanted advances and aggressive physical contact she faced at work. In June another manager confronted Johany and threatened her with a “big, big problem.” This threat was fulfilled in September when Johany received an unfair disciplinary letter warning her she could be terminated. Johany never received any discipline in 15 years’ service at Harvard until she reported being harassed. After a rally in which two co-workers spoke publicly in support of Johany, all three were told they are now considered “essential staff,” meaning they are expected to report for work even in emergency conditions like the recent hurricane. One of the co-workers has diabetic foot disease and walks with braces, and Johany has a heart condition which management knows about. Being compelled to work in emergency weather could put them at physical risk. Don’t let management drive Johany from her job, punish her supporters and isolate her!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 28pt;">Friday November 16, 12 noon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 24pt;">Holyoke</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 24pt;"> Center</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 24pt;">, 1350 Mass. Ave.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt;">Labor donated.</span></div>
Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-37702611020667039612012-10-23T08:19:00.000-04:002012-10-23T08:19:13.804-04:00Article from the Harvard Perspective on Speed-Up and Layoffs in University Financial ServicesThe piece below was supposed to be an Op Ed for the student newspaper the Harvard Crimson, but it was censored. The liberal magazine the <a href="http://www.perspy.com/?p=1072">Harvard Perspective</a> then agreed to publish the piece. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.perspy.com/?cat=5" rel="category" title="View all posts in Features"><span class="cufon cufon-canvas" style="height: 12px; width: 69px;"><span class="cufon-alt"></span></span></a>
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<h2>
Pressure, Panic and Layoffs in University Financial Services</h2>
<div class="title-meta">
<span class="comments-head"><a href="http://www.perspy.com/?p=1072#comments" title="Comment on Pressure, Panic and Layoffs in University Financial Services">4 Comments</a></span> <span class="date">22 October 2012</span></div>
<div class="entry">
By Geoff Carens<br />
Pedestrians strolling by Harvard’s impressive buildings might assume
that the employees within, especially those fortunate enough to belong
to a union, enjoy enviable working conditions. But in one Harvard
workplace, University Financial Services (UFS), union members have
endured six harrowing months of unrelenting pressure to work faster or
risk being laid off. On September 24, UFS managers announced their
intention to terminate three employees deemed “not fast enough.” Union
members who have young children and elderly dependents face the
unemployment line, wondering how they will get by in the months ahead.<br />
In March, Human Resources Officer Michelle Roach told members of the
Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) in UFS that
their jobs were being “expanded.” Roach wrote, “The next six months will
be considered a transition period… your continuation in this role…is
contingent upon your work performance and skills development meeting the
needs of your expanded role.” Employees were offered no choice; they
had to accept this precarious situation in order to keep their jobs.
While a few workers received small salary increases, other staff
received no compensation for their increased responsibilities and extra
work.<br />
After Roach’s announcement, David Casavant, Manager of Accounts
Payable Operations, began calculating average rates for invoice
processing by union members. Eventually everyone was under pressure to
work at or above the average rate at least 75% of the time. Of course,
unless all of the workers processed invoices at exactly the same speed,
this benchmark is mathematically impossible for an entire group to
achieve. Workers understood that if they did not out-perform their
colleagues, they could be fired.<br />
This production pressure was accompanied by other changes. For
instance, supervisors began attributing mistakes to the current workweek
regardless of when the tasks involved were actually performed. One
worker told me she was taken to task, many months later, for 12 or 13
so-called mistakes she had supposedly made back in December 2011, when
she was still being trained. At the same time, managers suggested to
employees that they would lose their jobs if they did not perform
flawlessly. Casavant sent the same message to multiple employees: “…Your
error rate [of two or fewer mistakes out of hundreds or thousands of
data entries per week] is not acceptable…your progress to date in this
area puts you at risk of not succeeding during this transition period.”
Management told the UFS staff that their jobs could be outsourced, and
then implausibly added that this was not a threat.<br />
Despite their insistence on flawless performance, managers ignored
repeated requests for relevant training. Instead, workers say they were
sent to classes that “had nothing to do with our jobs.” For instance, an
African-American employee, whose first language is English, was told to
take a pronunciation class meant for workers who grew up speaking
another language, and who lack fluency in English. Incredulous but not
wanting to give management any excuse to terminate her, she signed up.
Her teacher wrote, “When I assessed you there was very little evidence
of any problems with your speech…the fact that you spoke so clearly when
we met indicates that you have all the skills you need…I don’t think it
makes sense for you to attend the Pronunciation class.” Despite these
comments, in a meeting on September 17, various managers claimed they
had trouble understanding the employee, who told me that she
understandably feels “insulted.”<br />
The pressure to work ever faster without mistakes has negatively
impacted employees’ health. One worker had a panic attack at work and
left in an ambulance. Another had to take a stress-related disability
leave. A third employee, skilled and dependable with 24 years of
service, attributes her need to resume taking high blood pressure
medication to unending exhortations to speed up at work. The medication
compelled her to use the restroom more than other workers; fearful that
she would be perceived as lagging, she asked to document the reason for
her restroom breaks, but was not allowed to do so. Now she too has taken
has taken disability leave.<br />
In a meeting that I attended as a union rep on September 24, Casavant
and HR Rep Nicole Breen announced their plan to lay off three of the
workers in UFS. All three are over 40 and people of color, and two are
African-American women. Breen admitted that there was no reason to
terminate anyone due to lack of work in the department, acknowledging “a
unique situation [in] that you eliminate jobs without the work going
away.” On September 25, Casavant emailed staff in the unit to announce
that three temporary workers – not entitled to union wages, benefits, or
protections – would be starting the next day, replacing the workers who
were no longer in the office. Reportedly these temporary employees have
already called in sick several times in their first weeks on the job,
and staff who remain are overloaded with work without their experienced
colleagues to assist them.<br />
All the pressure, threats of layoff, health consequences for the
workers, and now job losses appear to have been completely unnecessary.
The UFS work group historically met or beat every deadline, and
employees in UFS were routinely pulled off their regular jobs to assist
other departments. As Massachusetts’ fifth-largest <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/bbj_research_alert/2012/04/the-10-largest-employers-in-mass.html">employer</a> and Cambridge’s <a href="http://www.cambridgeday.com/2010/03/05/the-new-top-10-employers-in-cambridge-and-how-to-contact-them-2/">largest</a>,
Harvard helps set regional employment standards. Concerned community
members, pro-labor students, and activists in my union are determined to
push for justice for those who face the loss of their jobs. We know
their treatment threatens a destructive ripple effect far beyond the
walls of University Financial Services.<br />
<em>Geoff Carens is a Union Representative in the Harvard Union of
Clerical and Technical Workers and a member of the Industrial Workers of
the World. A Library Assistant in Lamont Library, he attends the
Harvard Extension School.</em><br />
</div>
Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-34159763398106280282012-10-19T09:35:00.001-04:002012-10-19T09:36:05.333-04:0010/18 Protest Defending Johany Pilar!<div id="beacon_7215f34d1f" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; visibility: hidden;">
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Protesters Gather To Support Pilar</h1>
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By <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1208361/Michelle%20Denise_L._Ferreol/">Michelle Denise L. Ferreol</a> and <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1208207/Samuel_Y._Weinstock/">Samuel Y. Weinstock</a>, CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
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Published: Friday, October 19, 2012
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<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/image/2012/10/19/Justice-for-Jessica/">
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<img alt="picture" src="http://static.thecrimson.com/images/icons/photo.gif" /><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1209909/Ann-Marie_Y_Barrett/">Ann-Marie Y Barrett</a></div>
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Inspired by Johany Pilar, a worker in Harvard's
Mailroom, the Harvard community gathers at the Holyoke Center to protest
sexual harassment.</div>
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About 65 Harvard employees, students, and community
members protested in front of the Holyoke Center early Thursday evening
in support of Johany Pilar, a science center mailroom worker who says
she was sexually harassed.<br />
For about an hour, protesters listened
to several speakers, chanted, and marched in circles. The rally was
sponsored by student groups such as Black Harvard Women, Harvard College
International Women’s Rights Collective, Harvard Socialists at GSAS,
and Harvard Student Labor Action Movement.<br />
“I think that the large
number of students who showed up was a testament to the fact that
people are angry enough,” Student Labor Action Movement member Kirin
Gupta ’16 said. “The protest showed the outrage that Harvard has brought
upon itself.”<br />
Pilar, who was present at the protest but did not
speak, publicly shared her story for the first time at a Rape Culture
Panel hosted by the IWRC <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/10/12/mailroom-worker-reports-harassment/">last week</a>.<br />
At
the panel, Pilar said that a co-worker grabbed her face on two separate
occasions last spring and said he wanted to kiss her. Pilar felt
uncomfortable and immediately reported the incident to the management,
who she said prevented her from attending therapy sessions and
threatened her with disciplinary action or termination.<br />
Flyers distributed at the event said that Pilar has filed a complaint with the Massachussetts Commission Against Discrimination.<br />
University
spokesperson Kevin Galvin declined to comment on the specific case but
said in an emailed statement to the Crimson that the University takes
such allegation seriously. The University, he wrote, maintains a “policy
of non-retaliation to encourage employees to come forward with
complaints so that allegations can be investigated.”<br />
Pilar told
The Crimson that the rally demonstrates to others who have been harassed
the supportive community surrounding this issue.<br />
“I don’t want to shut my mouth,” Pilar said.<br />
Geoffrey
P. Carens, a library assistant and Pilar’s representative in the
Harvard Union of Clerical Technical Workers, led many of the protest’s
chants and introduced its speakers. He said that the purpose of the
event was to raise public awareness about Pilar’s situation and sexual
harassment in general.<br />
Protesters said that they want Harvard to
respond directly to Pilar’s case and change their policies in handling
workers’ grievances.<br />
“We want Harvard to issue a formal apology to
Johany and make sure that she never has to work with that man again,”
Amanda Haziz-Ginsberg, a recent Divinity School graduate and member of
Harvard Socialists at GSAS, said. “Enough is enough. We will not put up
with this.”<br />
—Staff writer Michelle Denise L. Fereol can be reached at mferreol@college.harvard.edu.<br />
—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu.</div>
</div>
Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-31272003175467404262012-10-14T18:46:00.004-04:002012-10-14T18:46:52.337-04:0010/18/12 Action Supporting HUCTW Member Johany Pilar, Retaliated against for Reporting Sexual Harassment<h2>
Defend Johany Pilar! Fight Rape Culture in the Workplace</h2>
Since 1998, HUCTW member Johany Pilar has worked in Harvard's Science Center Mail Room. She first reported unwanted advances and physical contact from a co-worker in March of this year. Ever since she complained about sexual harassment, Johany has faced retaliation from managers. She's experienced pressure, unequal treatment compared to co-workers, and threats.<br />
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On September 14, Johany received an unfair disciplinary warning threatening her with being fired. Johany has never been warned for anything in all her years at Harvard. She has started a lawsuit with the MA Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD).<br />
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Please come to an action supporting Johany and all those who stand up against gender discrimination, sexual harassment, & for their right to fair and equal treatment on the job!</h4>
<h4>
Join us Thursday, October 18 at 5 pm, @ Harvard's Holyoke Center, 1350 Mass. Ave., Cambridge! For more information email: JusticeforJohany@gmail.com.</h4>
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Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-85982718420660830962012-10-14T18:37:00.000-04:002012-10-16T18:46:48.994-04:00Open Letter to Harvard's Labor Relations Dept. on HUCTW Member Johany Pilar<div class="date">
October 9, 2012
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<a class="h2 title" href="http://hciwrc.tumblr.com/post/33278548198/an-open-letter-to-the-community">An Open Letter to the Community</a>
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Addressing Labor and Employee Relations at Harvard University</div>
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We are writing to raise an important issue
regarding the treatment of Harvard University Clerical and Technical
Workers member Ms. Johany Pilar. We understand that on 3/2/12, 4/4/12
and 4/10/12, Ms. Pilar reported unwanted advances and physical contact
from a co-worker. Apparently Ms. Pilar was instructed to train the
co-worker even after reporting this harrassment. During the training she
experienced more unwelcome physical contact. We understand that on
5/9/12, Ms. Pilar’s supervisor Chris Tolkacz insistently pressured Ms.
Johany to cancel a therapy appointment she had set up because of the
sexual harassment. Mr. Tolkacz apparently made this demand repeatedly,
despite knowing the reason for Ms. Pilar’s appointment. We have learned
that this interaction was so upsetting that it caused Ms. Pilar to have a
panic attack in the workplace, which she had to leave by ambulance.
Ms. Pilar was subsequently admitted to Mount Auburn Hospital suffering
from “severe anxiety.”</div>
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We understand that on 5/31/12, Ms. Pilar was
denied a reasonable accommodation to her back pain by management.
Although her doctor cleared her to return to work, with the sole
restriction that she not lift more than ten pounds, management refused
to allow her to return to work, using the excuse that it was not
possible to monitor the weights of packages in the mailroom. This seems
clearly specious, as many of the packages reportedly bear labels
recording their weight. Ms. Pilar lost an entire week’s wages due to
management’s denying her accommodation. We are informed that on 6/5/12,
Betsy Shortell, Manager of University Mail Services, confronted Ms.
Pilar in the workplace, repeatedly asked her the same questions, and,
despite all of Ms. Pilar’s responses being polite and appropriate,
accused Ms. Pilar of ignoring her, and stated, “If in the future I am
talking to you and you avoid me, you will have a big, big problem with
me.”</div>
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We have learned that on 8/28/12, Ms. Pilar
visited Urgent Care and was prescribed anti-inflammatory and muscle
relaxant medication for throat pain and inflammation. On 9/1/12, she
awoke to find that her throat pain had worsened and that she was unable
to talk, and could barely swallow. She reported a sick day in Harvard’s
PeopleSoft system, which she had been using for months to report sick
days. On 9/5/12, Ms. Pilar made a request for extra hours and was told
by Betsy Shortell, “Before we discuss extra hours, we need to sit down
and talk about your unexcused absence Saturday, September 1.” We are
informed that Ms. Shortell telephoned Ms. Pilar and stated that if she
did not meet with Shortell and HR, she would be fired. On 9/7/12, Ms.
Pilar provided management with a doctor’s letter stating that she needed
to stay out of work for the next three days because of the condition in
her throat. Despite this, on 9/14/12, management issued a written
warning which stated she had failed to follow time off request
procedures and was required when reporting a sick day “to speak to a
management person live.” This written warning skipped over the verbal
warning step in the HUCTW disciplinary process, and made no allowances
for Ms. Pilar’s abundantly documented throat pain and inflammation. We
regard it as another instance of the harassment, threats and unfair
treatment that Ms. Pilar has faced since reporting sexual harassment in
the workplace. We understand that Ms. Pilar, who has worked at Harvard
since 1998, never received any discipline before she reported the
unwanted advances and physical contact on the job. Ms. Pilar has filed a
lawsuit with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD)
due to the retaliation she has faced.</div>
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Students in support of Johany Pilar have
taken notice. We are disturbed by the way Ms. Pilar has been treated in
her workplace. We stand in solidarity with a woman who appears to have
been denied the right to speak out without repercussions in the face of
consistent harassment and discrimination. When a worker is disciplined
as a result of speaking up about sexual harassment, it is not only an
injustice to that individual, but also serves to normalize harassment
more broadly by silencing victims and emboldening harassers. A system
that does not take sexual harassment seriously ultimately serves to
reinforce rape culture, the set of attitudes, norms and practices that
allow for sexual violence that persists in our community.</div>
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We demand that the University rescind the
discipline against Ms. Pilar, provide her with a new supervisor, and
give departmental managers the training they need to treat workers who
have reported sexual harassment appropriately in the future. We believe
that these steps are necessary in maintaining a workplace consistent
with the values advanced in Harvard’s Non-Discrimination Policy. </div>
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We hope that Ms. Pilar’s story will bring
attention to the many ways rape culture affects our community. We pledge
to support Ms. Johany Pilar in her struggle to secure fair treatment by
our university and urge you to join us to show your solidarity. </div>
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Sincerely,</div>
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Global Health and Aids Coalition </div>
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Harvard International Women’s Rights Collective</div>
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Harvard John Reed Society </div>
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Harvard Student Labor Action Movement</div>
Harvard Socialists<br />
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Boston General Membership Branch<br />
Harvard College Dominican Students' Association<br />
Association of Black Harvard Women<br />
Harvard Queer Students and Allies<br />
Harvard Socialists at GSAS<br />
Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8926639524924328398.post-47286481414089452642012-10-14T18:34:00.000-04:002012-10-14T18:34:01.568-04:00Harvard Crimson article about HUCTW member Johany Pilar<img border="0" height="0" src="http://www.burstnet.com/enlightn/8648/%7EAMSMB%7EM1%7EA1%7EA4%7EM2%7EAI1%7EA2%7EFI1%7EC1%7EA5%7E/58CB/" width="0" />
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<h1>
Mailroom Worker Alleges Harassment</h1>
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By <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1208361/Michelle%20Denise_L._Ferreol/">Michelle Denise L. Ferreol</a>, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
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Published: Friday, October 12, 2012
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<img alt="picture" src="http://static.thecrimson.com/images/icons/photo.gif" /><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1209917/Soa_H_Andrian/">Soa H Andrian</a></div>
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On Wednesday October 10, members of the Harvard community gather to discuss rape culture. </div>
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The room fell silent seconds before Science Center mail
clerk Johany Pilar spoke at the panel discussion on gender inequality on
“rape culture” on Wednesday.<br />
“Maybe you don’t remember me,” she began softly. “But I have been here for a really long time.”<br />
Pilar
clutched at her throat, which was hurting, and asked the more than 20
students who had gathered in a tiny Boylston classroom to be patient
with her. Though her every word required obvious effort, she wanted to
be heard.<br />
“I am here because what happened to me could happen to you tomorrow,” she said. “I don’t want that.<br />
”Late
last February, Pilar said, she became the victim of sexual harassment
by one of her co-workers in the freshman mailroom. She said her
co-worker, “bigger and older” than her, grabbed her face between his
thumb and pointer finger and said that he wanted to kiss her.<br />
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Pilar said that she felt uncomfortable and immediately
told her co-worker not to touch her again. Despite apologizing after the
first incident, she said, the man repeated the same behavior again just
a few days later.<br />
“He did it again. He grabbed my face,” Pilar said, mimicking the man’s grip on her face with her own hand. “He did it again!”<br />
Pilar
said she then contacted a female manager of University Mail Services
about the harassment by email. Pilar said that in response, the manager
told her to stop hugging people and to try to be nice and work
professionally. No action was taken against her co-worker, she said.<br />
In
April, Pilar said, the same co-worker grabbed her hand twice. She
reported that incident to another mail services supervisor, who said
that he would reassign the man so he would no longer come in contact
with her, Pilar said.<br />
Overcome by stress due to the harassment,
she said, she started seeing a therapist and was admitted to Mount
Auburn Hospital after a panic attack in May. She felt that she was being
pressured by managers because she had reported the harassment; in
September, she said, she received a written message informing her that
she could be fired for an unreported absence.<br />
“I’m not going to
shut my mouth. I’m not afraid,” she said. “I’m not doing this for me to
be in the mailroom working, but for justice.”<br />
Wednesday evening
marked the first time that Pilar spoke about her sexual harassment
experience in a public forum, and she plans to continue to make her
story public. At the panel, hosted by the International Women’s Rights
Collective and several other organizations to discuss gender inequality,
Pilar asked students for their support. A flyer handed out at the panel
said that on Oct. 18, students will gather at the Holyoke Center to
support Pilar and “stand up against gender discrimination, sexual
harassment, & for their right to fair and equal treatment on the
job.”<br />
Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers
representative Geoffrey Carens, who is helping Pilar make her story
known, was also present at the event.<br />
“Johany has really taken it on the chin for what she has done,” he said. “She has been incredibly, incredibly brave.”<br />
Carens
said that he helped Pilar file a complaint with the Massachusetts
Commission Against Discrimination at the beginning of the month. That
complaint will be assigned to an investigator in the state office.<br />
Meanwhile,
Pilar is involved in the grievance filing process through HUCTW as
well. Bill Jaeger, the director of HUCTW, said privacy rules prevented
him from discussing Pilar’s case specifically. But he commented, “We
have a union management grievance process that we really believe in,
that works extremely well to bring about fair outcomes.”<br />
Pilar,
who is originally from the Dominican Republic, said she has previously
faced domestic violence. Working at Harvard since 1998, she said she has
maintained a spotless disciplinary record.<br />
Students at the event
said that they saw Pilar’s story as an isolated incident reflecting
harassment that happens frequently among college students as well.“<br />
We
don’t really talk about sexual assault even though it’s something that
affects our lives. Most of the time, we even engage in
‘victim-blaming’,” said Kate Sim ’14, president of the International
Women’s Rights Collective. “This is a mindset that has to be changed.
How are we expected to be students here if we don’t even feel safe to
speak up?”<br />
—Samuel Y. Weinstock contributed to the reporting of this article.<br />
—Staff writer Michelle Denise L. Ferreol can be reached at mferreol@college.harvard.edu.Geoff Carenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918308234067954648noreply@blogger.com0