Next No Layoffs Campaign Action

SPEAK OUT AGAINST LAYOFFS @ HARVARD!

TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012
12 Noon, in front of the Science Center

Featuring testimonials from workers, students and faculty. Layoffs in '04 and '09 damaged Harvard's libraries. More layoffs will only mean library services will be further degraded.

Join the No Layoffs Campaign, the Student Labor Action Movement and Occupy Harvard to
PROTEST LAYOFFS AND CUTS IN SERVICES AT HARVARD

3/1 PICKET IN THE SNOW!

Protesters Rally Against Library Layoffs

By Samuel Y. Weinstock, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Published: Friday, March 02, 2012

Rebecca J. Margolies

Chanting slogans such as "layoffs ruin lives and libraries," Harvard Libraries staff and supporters gathered in front of the Holyoke Center on Thursday evening to protest proposed layoffs.

Approximately 50 protesters gathered in front of the Holyoke Center early Thursday evening to rally against layoffs which may result from the Harvard Library’s upcoming reorganization.
“It may be raw out here, but it’s not as raw as the deal Harvard is giving its employees,” Harvard library worker Geoff P. Carens said through a megaphone to the crowd gathered in the wind and snow. “It may be cold out here, but it’s not as cold as Harvard University.”

After a series of chants and a brief musical performance, the group marched into the Yard and circled Massachusetts Hall, University Hall, and finally Widener Library before returning to the Square. The protesters marched down the center of Mass. Ave., slowing traffic for five minutes before disbanding.
On Jan. 19, Harvard University Library Executive Director Helen Shenton announced that “the library workforce will be smaller than it is now,” and that the University was considering voluntary and involuntary options to reduce staff as part of the Library’s reorganization.

Since then, groups such as the Student Labor Action Movement, Occupy Harvard, and the No Layoffs Campaign have held a variety of protest actions against staff reduction, including an occupation of Lamont Library Café last week.

Multimedia

Photo Library Protests

On Feb. 13, the University announced a voluntary retirement package for library workers. Two weeks ago, the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, which represents library employees, proposed forming “joint councils” with library administrators to discuss the reorganization of the library.

At Thursday’s protest, Rudi E. Batzell, a doctoral student in history, told the protesters about attending a Graduate Student Council open forum earlier in the day with University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76.

Batzell said that while most of the forum was spent answering questions previously submitted online, it seemed to him that the administrators were expecting controversial questions about the library reorganization. According to Batzell, Garber said at the forum that it was possible that all staff reductions would be voluntary, but he refused to say for certain.

“He flew out of there,” Batzell said. “It was pretty disappointing.”

Harvard College library worker and HUCTW member Dawn M. Miller said that she attended the rally to express her concern about losing her job or her coworkers losing theirs. She said that she was hopeful that the councils would be helpful, but that the request for their formation was a “weak response” from the union that “should have happened six months ago.”

“I’ll try to be optimistic,” Miller said.

Francisco J. Maldonado ’14, who attended the rally, pointed to the fact that Harvard has the largest university endowment in the world to say that Harvard should not lay off workers.

Maldonado said he was satisfied with the way the rally turned out. “I think we got a pretty good showing in spite of this weather,” he said.

—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu.

Globe article on Layoffs

Harvard plans to consolidate library, reshuffle employees

By Mary Carmichael, Globe Staff

Harvard University revealed its long-awaited plan for restructuring its library system this morning, calling for “changes that affect staff at every level” that are likely to include consolidating many services, reshuffling some employees, and offering buyouts to others.

Details will be finalized over the next few weeks, according to a statement from Provost Alan Garber, but the plan will surely include “adjustments in how and where many staff members perform the work that has made the library one of the university’s greatest treasures.”
With dozens of semi-autonomous branches, the library is the world’s largest academic collection, a point of pride at the school. But its size and structure have resulted in redundancy and held back efforts to adapt in an age of digital technology and increasingly expensive academic journals.

The plan calls for consolidating services across the branches -- from access to digital preservation -- and developing systemwide policies on what materials are acquired and how students and scholars can retrieve them. It also suggests that the branch libraries’ information technology staffers and resources be combined with those of the university as a whole.

“It replaces a fragmented system of 73 libraries spread across the schools with one that promotes university-wide collaboration,” Garber said in the statement.

Many of Harvard’s suggested changes have already been implemented at other universities, such as the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which overhauled its library system a decade ago amid budget cuts, eliminating many print journal subscriptions and shrinking its staff by 20 percent through an early retirement plan.

On Wednesday, Harvard President Drew Faust released a lengthy statement expressing both her love as a scholar for the university’s library and her concern that it is falling behind.

Its decentralized organizational scheme “has left us unable to make integrated strategic decisions about the digital future, so that we have not kept pace with essential new technologies,” she wrote in a letter to the Harvard community “It has led to duplications in services and acquisitions; it has caused us to miss economies of scale; and has produced overhead costs that are significantly higher than those of our peers.”

The new plan, based on two years of internal study, is designed to bring the library up to speed.
But many Harvard librarians said they felt left out of the loop, and some said staff cuts could hurt the library.

Rumors that the plan might call for massive layoffs have provoked a fearful outcry among the librarians -- especially after a series of contentious meetings in January, during which employees said they were told to fill out skills profiles and expect both voluntary buyouts and layoffs.

After those meetings, the surprised librarians took to Twitter, with one complaining that “all of Harvard library staff have just effectively been fired,” a statement that circulated widely on the Internet that turned out to be untrue.

Some 70 protesters -- including librarians, but also Occupy Boston participants and student labor activists -- held a rally in Harvard Square Thursday, chanting, “Hey, Harvard, you’ve got cash. Why do you treat your workers like trash?”

Librarians outside Harvard were also awaiting the changes with concern.
Steven Bell, a librarian at Temple University, wrote that the fury over change at Harvard might stem from the university’s stature and cultural resonance.

“The restructuring may not diminish the strength of the collections or services, but there is a strong emotional connection to what these academic libraries mean,” he wrote in the magazine Library Journal. “At your institution or mine, eliminating branch libraries may cause some departmental ill will, but ultimately it is seen as sensible and necessary. At Harvard, it is perceived as an ill-conceived tearing of the cultural fabric.”

A blogger named Chris Bourg, an assistant university librarian at Stanford University,” wrote that as Harvard goes, so might other universities: “If massive layoffs can happen at Harvard [with its huge endowments], then no academic library is safe.”
 

Mary Carmichael can be reached at mary.carmichael@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @mary_carmichael.

Rally Against Library Layoffs - Crimson Reports

Protesters March Against Potential Library Layoffs

By Samuel Y. Weinstock, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Published: Friday, February 10, 2012

•  

Jessica C. Salley

Protestors join together in a rendition of “Solidarity Forever” in front of the Holyoke Center Thursday evening before marching through Harvard Yard in opposition to proposed reductions in numbers of Harvard’s library workers.

A crowd of more than 100 protesters gathered outside the Holyoke Center Thursday night in response to plans to reorganize Harvard University Library that could include involuntary staff reductions.

The protestors chanted and marched in a circle, after which several workers, students, and other supporters spoke to the crowd. They then walked into the Yard and circled Massachusetts Hall several times.

The rally sought to increase awareness in the Harvard community about the library workers’ concerns as well as to display opposition to the administration’s intentions, said William P. Whitham ’14, a member of the Student Labor Action Movement.

“I hope this lets the student leaders, lets the faculty know that this ‘glorious’ reorganization has a human cost,” Whitham said.

Library assistant Jeffrey Booth, who has worked at Harvard libraries for nearly 26 years, said that the threat of staff reductions makes him worried about his family.

“Our futures are at stake,” Booth said. “We’ve already had to make tough personal decisions because of the threat of being laid off.”

Library employee and elected Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers representative Emeka F. Onyeagoro, who spoke at the rally, said that he was opposed to the layoffs, which he said threatened an estimated 800 to 1,000 workers.

Onyeagoro said the layoffs have no financial basis, but are an unjustified attempt at greater efficiency.

Layoffs would also negatively affect workers who kept their jobs, since they would be faced with a greater workload, Onyeagoro said.

Ricardo R. S. Rey, a teaching fellow in the history department, said that he opposed the layoffs for practical, as well as philosophical reasons. He recalled an instance where he wasted time searching for documents with HOLLIS before a librarian helped him find a wealth of materials for his class.

“How are we going to find this [without librarians]?” Salazar said.

“There are people [here] that don’t normally go to rallies,” Booth, who is also a HUCTW member, said. “It’s hard to get up out of your seat and do something.”

Last Friday, HUCTW leaders met with library officials for a conversation that HUCTW Director Bill Jaeger described as “honest,” “difficult,” and “inconclusive.”

“So far we haven’t seen a change of heart, but we’re going to keep pressing, and press harder,” Jaeger said.

Jaeger said that the union still had two major concerns that the library board had not addressed sufficiently, if at all.

“We’re baffled by the unnecessary cloak of secrecy,” Jaeger said. “We don’t understand why such a committed and intelligent group would not have more access [to the community].”

HUCTW’s second concern, according to Jaeger, was that some library functions are already understaffed.

“We’re going to fight for great libraries and great jobs,” Jaeger said.

Yet Desiree A. Goodwin, a library assistant who spoke at the protest, said that HUCTW, of which she is a member, has not offered much information either.

“They’re not really telling us anything,” Goodwin said. “Not unlike the library board.”

Jaeger said that the email Faust sent on Wednesday to the Harvard community was encouraging to HUCTW members, since it referenced staff engagement.

Jaeger added, however, that so far, the administrations’s words and actions have not been consistent.

“There’s a worrisome disconnect between that quotation and the practical accessibility that our members have,” Jaeger said.

Booth said that he and his fellow workers found the content of the email to be misleading.

“They expect us to believe her assertions because she’s Drew Faust,” Booth said. “And that is insulting.”

Read more »

Feb 9 - Rally Against Layoffs!

NO LAYOFFS! -


5 PM, THURS, FEB 9, Holyoke Ctr.
1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 (next to Au Bon Pain). Redline to Harvard Square.

Who do they think they are?! Even in this bleak economy, Harvard University, a taxfree
‘non-profit’, has managed to retain $32 billion (in addition to other income), yet
it is putting people out of work and plans to lay off more. Layoffs are a burden to our
local economy where people are already struggling and where Harvard has not been
a good neighbor. Harvard is in a privileged financial position where laying off staff
is not necessity but greed. Stand with Harvard workers and community members
against these destructive plans which will devastate many families and hurt the entire
community. Rally to oppose layoffs!

5 PM, THURS, FEB 9, Holyoke Ctr.
1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 (next to Au Bon Pain). Redline to Harvard Square.
Contact harvardnolayoffs@gmail.com for more information.

If you oppose layoffs at Harvard University, please send an email protest.

--------------------------------------Email Harvard Labor Relations------------------------------------
Tell them that when Harvard doesn’t pay taxes and then puts people out of work they are hurting the local economy of your community! Tell them that you support everyone doing their fair share during difficult economic times. Harvard workers greatly appreciate this support. Thank you for sending emails to oppose the University’s plans!

Address emails to: bill_murphy@harvard.edu, (he is the Director of Labor Relations for Harvard University).
cc: harvardnolayoffs@gmail.com

Sample text: I oppose Layoffs in the Harvard Libraries. A University should be protecting these services, and especially one with the enormous resources of Harvard should not be turning people out on the street. Laying off workers when there is still so much money available (in part because of a special tax-free status) is damaging my local economy for no other reason than greed. Please do not do this. The community does not support it.

Dining Hall Workers Rally During Contract Negotiations

Dining Hall Workers Rally in The Yard

By MERCER R. COOK, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

KEREN E. ROHE

Yale University dining hall workers and students join their Harvard counterparts for a union demonstration in Harvard Square on Thursday night. The protest followed a meeting and discussion and a negotiation session between Unite Here Local 26 and the University.

Harvard dining hall workers, students and Unite HERE members from across New England marched through the Yard Thursday night holding signs and chanting “we want justice” and “union power.”

The march ended in the area outside of the Holyoke Center where the crowd sung a version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” with lyrics adapted for the union.

As the marchers traveled through the yard swinging colorful glow sticks, accompanied by a union-led band, they picked up a number of spectators and drew some students to watch from the sidelines.

Earlier that day, University officials met with members of Unite HERE Local 26—the union that represents Harvard dining hall workers—as part of their contract renegotiations.

Union leadership offered few details about the nature of the negotiations and the University declined to comment late Thursday night.

Members of the Yale dining hall workers’ chapter of Unite HERE also met with University officials in that meeting.

Following that meeting, the union members met with student supporters in First Parish Church before kicking off the rally.

At the church, the two school’s unions discussed the differences in their contracts.

Harvard and Yale workers said they want many of the elements contained in the Yale workers’ contracts to be included in the newest contract for the Harvard dining hall workers, including full-time employment, more job training opportunities for workers, and increased job security.

“In New Haven, we have a source of inspiration,” said Unite HERE Local 26 president Brian Lang, who called five Yale workers up to the stage.

The Yale workers proceeded to discuss the struggle they endured before obtaining their current contract, including 11 strikes. The speakers said their struggle was ultimately worth the pay-off.

“We stand here today with full-time employment. We stand here with no lay-off language—period. We stand here with 100 percent free medical,” said Robert “Bob” Proto, president of Unite HERE Local 35, which represents Yale dining hall workers. “There’s a standard of quality of jobs that Harvard needs to raise up to Yale’s.”

Lang said that the Yale workers made a presentation to Harvard officials during the negotiations earlier in the day Thursday and that the Yale workers presented some “very concrete solutions to the problems we’ve been facing.”

Harvard dining hall workers also spoke during the First Parish Church meeting, saying that they are fighting for a contract that benefits the entire University.

“We’re here tonight to make life better for everybody,” said Ed Childs, a chef in Adams House and a union official. “The problem is there are some people on the other side who do not want to make life better. But we intend to win because we intend to be united, workers, students, and faculty.”

Childs then proceeded to grab the hands of a student and a worker and raised them high, a symbol that would be repeated throughout the night, and drew thunderous applause from the audience.

Students also expressed support for the dining hall workers.

Undergraduate Council president Senan Ebrahim ’12 spoke about the symbiotic relationship between students and dining hall workers.

“Every time I’ve been in a dining hall, workers have had my back,” Ebrahim said. “Now, it’s our turn.”

SLAM member Naimonu A. James ’14 received a standing ovation from the energized attendees when she expressed SLAM’s dedication to the workers’ cause. With over 50 students standing behind her, James said, “No matter what this takes or how long it takes, we’re going to get this done, and we’re going to get each other through it.”

—Staff writer Mercer R. Cook can be reached at mcook@college.harvard.edu.

Dining Hall Workers To Rally in The Square

Dining Hall Workers To Rally in The Square
By MERCER R. COOK, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Yale University dining hall workers and students will join their Harvard counterparts at a meeting for the local chapter of Unite Here to share negotiation strategies they have employed to reach an agreement on their current contract with Yale.

The meeting and discussion will follow a negotiation session between Unite Here Local 26 and the University in which both sides will put forth their official proposals for the coming contract negotiations. After the discussion with those at Yale, Unite Here members plan to rally in the Square.

Read more »

SLAM Rallies in Support of Workers

The Student Labor Action Movement has kicked off its sustainable jobs campaign to rally student support for University dining hall workers who will be re-negotiating their contracts in the coming year.

The campaign comes a week before Unite Here! Local 26, the union for Harvard University Hospitality and Dining Hall Services workers, plans to submit its contract proposal to the University.

For the campaign, SLAM has placed posters across campus that state SLAM’s demands for Harvard workers, which include greater job security and more access to full-time employment.

Read more »

Dining Hall Workers Rally With Students

For the record, there were about 10 HUCTW members in attendance supporting our UNITE HERE brothers and sisters.

Dining Hall Workers Rally With Students

By MERCER R. COOK, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Published: Friday, February 25, 2011

Dining hall workers and Harvard students gathered in Cambridge’s First Parish Church yesterday for a member meeting of the workers’ union before spilling into the streets of Harvard Square and coming to a shouting protest in front of the Holyoke Center.

The meeting, organized by the Boston area hospitality union Unite Here Local 26, focused on procuring “justice and respect” for dining hall workers in the coming contract negotiations with the University.

Read more »

Crimson - HUCTW Rallies Against Walker Ban

HUCTW Rallies Against Walker Ban
MERCER R. COOK, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Published: Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mellow music played in the background as union supporters and their opponents chanted across a divided, police monitored Beacon Street in front of the Massachusetts State House yesterday.

The rally was a reaction to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed ban on collective bargaining in the state. Massachusetts union workers were called upon by their unions to show support for government union members in Wisconsin.

Unions in attendance at yesterday’s rally included the Boston Public School Teachers Union, Service Employees International Union, Iron Workers Local Union No. 7 and Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers.

Read more »

Rally to Support Wisconsin Workers - TODAY!

Support the Rights of Wisconsin Workers
Tuesday, February 22nd
4-6PM
Massachusetts State House

Join workers from across Massachusetts to show support for our sisters and brothers in Wisconsin who are fighting to keep workers' rights alive. Click here for more info on their struggle.

Sponsored by: Mass Teachers Assn., AFT Massachusetts Mass AFL-CIO. Greater Boston Central Labor Council, AFSCME Council 93, SEIU Local 509, 1199 SEIU, SEIU Local 888, Jobs With Justice and many others.

For more information call 617-524-8778 or go to www.massjwj.net

4 LAYOFFS ANNOUNCED IN WIDENER LIBRARY; 5/26 PROTEST

On 4/30/10 four workers in Widener received layoff notices. Three were HUCTW members. The union members laid off were working on digital photography and digital scanning projects, said to be the future of the Library. These latest layoffs come on top of at least *340 clerical union jobs* lost in the past year alone!

To protest these unnecessary and harmful cuts, and decry the ongoing abuse of Temps by Harvard, activists plan a picket during Harvard's Commencement Week.

We will highlight the case of Dennis Prater, pictured above at left, who was cycled through 3 different categories of Temp and LHT ("less than half-time") employment, even though the union contract says, "It is a fundamental ideal of the Harvard workplace that...the use of Temp and LHT workers should be exceptional and strictly limited, and never at the expense of regular employment. In other words, everyone who does regular Harvard work on a regular basis deserves the benefits of regular employment status." After ignoring the union contract by keeping Prater out of the union, and never giving him so much as one paid sick day, Harvard laid him off! Harvard Temps receive no meaningful benefits.

We will demonstrate against the layoffs and abuse of Temp employees on Wed., May 26, at 5 p.m., in front of Harvard's Holyoke Center, 1350 Mass. Ave., Cambridge.

ALL ARE INVITED TO COME AND HELP US STRIKE A BLOW FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS!

Workers, Students Rally Against Layoffs

Workers, Students Rally Against Layoffs
Union members and supporters express discontent with budget cuts
By Jacob D. Roberts, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Published: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Rally for Workers

Harvard workers and their supporters rally outside of the Holyoke Center yesterday evening. Rally participants chanted slogans and held signs that urged Harvard to rehire laid-off workers.

Several dozen Harvard employees and students rallied outside the Holyoke Center last night, protesting the budget cuts that may dim the holiday season for some University staff.

Read more »

No More Layoffs - Rehire all laid off workers - Rally - Wednesday, Dec 2, 5pm

Hey Harvard--NO MORE LAYOFFS!

Rehire the Laid-Off Workers! No Furloughs!

RALLY! Wed., Dec 2, 5pm

Holyoke Center, 1350 Mass. Ave. Cambridge

(next to Au Bon Pain, Harvard MBTA stop)

Harvard University’s highly-speculative investments caused its endowment to soar during boom times. Predictably, when the market tanked, Harvard’s risky bets on private equity, hedge funds, etc., lost some money. Refusing to resort to pay cuts for top administrators like many other institutions, Harvard has chosen to balance its books mainly on the backs of lower-paid workers. Hundreds of staffers have been pushed to retire early amid ominous noises about budget cuts and potential job losses. In June, Harvard announced it would lay off 275 clerical and administrative employees. At least 115 members of Harvard’s largest union, HUCTW/AFSCME local 3650, were laid off, not counting term employees whose contracts were not extended. Five months later, less than half the laid off union members have found non-temp positions at Harvard, despite supposedly having preference for open jobs. Some union members now face furloughs (weeks of time off without pay), when they must continue to pay their usual deductions for health-care, etc. despite getting no paycheck!

Harvard’s endowment is still $26 billion! Despite this huge pile of money, Harvard enjoys “non-profit” tax status and doesn’t pay the taxes that ordinary businesses have to pay. We rally to say that Harvard owes the surrounding communities more than layoffs and furloughs! For more information pls. email nolayoffscampaign@yahoo.com

Images from 9/16 No Layoffs Rally -- two hours long!!

Protesters Highlight Health Concerns

Protesters Highlight Health Concerns

CRIMSON/ REBECCA J. MARGOLIES

Students and union activists protest layoffs and hours reductions for janitors in front of the Holyoke Center yesterday. They say that sanitation standards will slip, and health and safety will suffer as a result.
See more pictures for this story.

Published On Thursday, September 17, 2009 12:38 AM

By PETER F. ZHU
Crimson Staff Writer

Union activists and students at yesterday’s labor rally added to their tried-and-true repertoire of bullhorn blasting and sign waving to walk to Mass. Hall to deliver a modest gift to University President Drew G. Faust: a bag labeled “Get Well Harvard,” filled with cards from protesters.

But the gesture was not a sarcastic reference to the University’s recently-announced 30 percent drop in endowment value.

Instead, the cards left space for people to write “recommendations for a healthy Harvard,” and were intended to highlight a message—that the health of Harvard’s workers is deteriorating, and that the well-being of students and staff will suffer soon as well. Protesters argued that recent layoffs and hour reductions have left janitors with more to do in less time, and that sanitation standards will inevitably suffer—hurting the rest of the Harvard community.

“The first line of defense [against disease] is sanitation, and that’s the function of janitors,” said Daniel B. Becker, a union organizer who represents Harvard’s service workers.

A Harvard police officer accepted the gift bag and brought it into Mass. Hall, but it is unclear if Faust received the offering. Harvard spokesman Kevin Galvin declined to comment on the matter, saying only that he was “confident cleaning standards are being maintained” and that no Harvard-employed janitors have been laid off this summer.

But the University did slash work hours for over 100 of its own janitors in July, and numerous janitors it employs through outside firms—a group not addressed by Galvin’s statement—have been laid off in recent months as a result of reduced custodial budgets.

Abigail S. Brown ’11, a member of the Student Labor Action Movement, said that officials need to understand that there are “all sorts of people that make up Harvard and need to be recognized as valuable.” While yesterday’s actions were not intended to be conciliatory, Brown said SLAM would be employing various new strategies this year, hopefully embodying more “positive spin” than in the past.

“SLAM is not an anti-Harvard organization,” Brown reiterated.

But other attendees of the rally were more militant. Chanting repeatedly “No justice, no peace,” and “Harvard, escucha, estamos en la lucha” (Harvard, listen, we are in a fight), roughly 50 protesters picketed outside the Holyoke Center, denouncing what they called Harvard’s greed and calling for shared sacrifice by administrators. Geoff P. Carens, a Harvard librarian and union member who frequently organizes such vocal protests, ridiculed the University for saying that it was in the midst of a fiscal crisis and had to lay off workers when the endowment still stands at $26 billion.

“These people don’t know what a tough decision really is. They’ll never know what it’s like to struggle for something worthwhile,” shouted Bryan Koulouris, a member of advocacy group Socialist Alternative, to the gathered protestors. “That’s what this struggle’s about: It’s about solidarity.”

—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu.

RALLY 9/16 4-6 p.m., 1350 Mass. Ave. Cambridge

Somewhere between 97 and 130 unionized clerical workers have been laid off in recent months at Harvard, not even counting term employees whose contracts weren't renewed. 35 Harvard custodians have lost their jobs. Hundreds of other administrative staffers and less-than-halftime employees have been let go. About 150 custodians suffered a 12.5% reduction in their already-low salaries, with no decrease in the amount of work they're expected to do! Hundreds of other workers have taken early-retirement buyouts, and their co-workers are frantically trying to pick up the slack, leading to speed-ups and overwork. Conditions for workers in dining halls are worse than ever.

HARVARD STILL HAS A $26 BILLION ENDOWMENT! The University has increased tuition, and just negotiated a lucrative merchandising deal. Harvard is snapping up millions of shares of investment funds. Let's demonstrate to put healthy pressure on Harvard not to lay off more workers, re-hire the laid-off employees, and stop the pay cuts! Please join union members, unorganized workers, students, faculty & neighborhood activists as we

RALLY!
Wednesday, September 16
Holyoke Center, 1350 Mass. Ave, Cambridge (next to Au Bon Pain, steps from Harvard T, flyer is attached)

Workers in SEIU local 615 will demonstrate at 4 p.m, clerical workers will appear at 5 p.m., both at 1350 Mass. Ave. We'll rally at least until 6 p.m.!

Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=139256136134

Next public action of the No Layoffs Campaign

STOP HARVARD'S LAYOFFS!
Reinstate laid-off employees!

Harvard University recently announced 275 layoffs of clerical and administrative staff. Activists estimate that about 1,000 workers have actually lost their jobs at Harvard in the past few months, including contact, less-than-half-time, and term employees, who were not mentioned in Harvard's announcement. These deep cuts will inflict serious harm on workers, their families, the surrounding communities, and scholarship at Harvard. A coalition of union members, non-union workers, students, faculty and neighborhood activists is fighting to stop the layoffs and get workers who have lost their jobs rehired. Please join us:

RALLY!
Thursday, August 6, 12:30 p.m.
Holyoke Center, 1350 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

We will demonstrate to show Harvard that this issue is not going away. The richest university in the world, whose "non-profit" status confers special tax advantages, owes the public more than mass job cuts at a time of economic recession. Harvard made some risky bets on private equity, hedge funds, etc., and has lost some value from its still-massive endowment, but retains enormous resources, and income from many other sources apart from the endowment. If any cuts need to happen, Harvard should "chop at the top," not take away the livelihoods of lower-paid staff, many of whom live check-to-check.

For more information please email: nolayoffscampaign@yahoo.com.

Article about Layoffs

Harvard Layoffs: The Axe Falls But Workers Fight Back
Jun 30, 2009
By Joshua Koritz, member Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers/AFSCME 3650 (personal capacity)

On Tuesday, June 23, after months of cuts in budgets throughout the organization, Harvard University announced 275 layoffs. Activists in the Harvard No-Layoffs Campaign quickly called a demonstration and 100 people showed up in Harvard Yard two days later to protest these layoffs.

Workers from the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers/AFSCME 3650, SEIU 615 (janitors and security guards), UNITE HERE 26 (dining hall workers), students in the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), faculty members and concerned community members all made up a spirited demonstration that marched around Harvard Yard during their lunch break. Chanting: “They say cutback, we say fightback!” “They say layoff, we say back off!” “1,2,3,4, Harvard is not poor! 5,6,7,8, layoffs are what we hate!”

Testimonials from workers who had been laid off without even so much as an inkling that their jobs were at risk, from their co-workers, and from faculty and students who will be negatively affected by this reduction in staff made for a powerful kick off.

The No-Layoffs Campaign at Harvard is unique in that it was started up by activists before any layoffs were actually announced, so a small network of activists was already in place to respond. However it will take a massive mobilization of Harvard workers and community in the coming months to prevent further layoffs and get those jobs back that have already been eliminated. This is needed not just at Harvard, but throughout society in all industries and areas that have seen layoffs and cutbacks.

Harvard's Money and the Layoffs
In September, 2008, Harvard made headlines announcing an endowment of $37 billion, making it the richest university in the world and the second richest non-profit, non-government organization in the world. Since then, it is estimated that the endowment has lost 30% of its value. It is worth pointing out that Harvard does not rely solely on its endowment for income, but received over $600 million in gifts in 2008, owns property and collects rent all over the Boston area, plus tuition, federal and private grants, not to mention the retail money Harvard makes from branding.

Harvard has used this drop in the value of its endowment as an excuse to centralize and streamline its administration. This was eventually going to result in layoffs, and in fact these are not the first. Already custodial staff and dining hall staff have had positions eliminated.

These decisions are being made by the reclusive Harvard Corporation, headed by president Drew Gilpin Faust. It is an unelected, secretive board that includes Robert Rubin (former bigwig at CitiGroup) and has cut the flow of funding to Harvard from the endowment. They run the endowment like an investment bank – for profit – yet Harvard is legally a non-profit. If Harvard is not willing to dip into the principle of its endowment in these troubling economic times to save jobs and the greater community of which it is part it should lose its non-profit status and pay taxes like the rest of us on the profits it makes.

The layoffs have been spread throughout the university but have targeted many longer serving workers who, due to union raises, were at the top of their pay scale, some of whom were only a few years from retirement.

Workers at Harvard are being forced to pay the price for the economic recession, a blatant attack on working people by the hedge fund gamblers, like those who have managed the Harvard endowment, who are responsible for this recession.

Each layoff represents rents and bills that may not get paid. Each one represents a parent who agonizes over where their next meal will come from. Each layoff is a slap in the face to workers at Harvard and workers everywhere. When Harvard can lay people off despite their riches, we need to say: if you can't run this, we will! Take Harvard out of the hands of the corporate elite. Open its doors to the community. Use the endowment for education and not for profit

Open Media Boston coverage of the rally

Harvard University Workers Demonstrate Against Mass Layoffs

by Jason Pramas (Staff), Jun-26-09

Cambridge, MA - Over 100 unionized Harvard University workers, students and supporters held a campus rally on Thursday in protest of the mass layoff of 275 employees earlier this week - representing 2 percent of Harvard's 16,000-person workforce. Organizers said that as the richest university in the world, with billions of dollars in its endowment, Harvard "owes more to community residents than mass layoffs."

Geoff Carens, a union representative in the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, minced few words about the situation on the ground, "I think today's action shows that Harvard's callous efforts to kick workers to the curb is going to bounce back and bite them. We drew a large, noisy crowd of workers, students, faculty, and community members in summer - typically a very tough time to mount a demonstration! The rally was called very quickly as layoffs only started hitting the workers this week. The desperation and panic that many laid-off workers feel seems to be hardening into a determination to fight in many cases.

"We had participation today from activists in Allston-Brighton who have opposed Harvard's take-over of their neighborhood. The number of students who rallied was truly remarkable given that the great majority of them aren't even in town. We even attracted summer school students and high school students. Probably the majority of attendees were clerical union members. Our demonstration struck an important blow for workers' rights on campus, and pointed the way for the future. They say lay off? We say back off!"

The Harvard administration, for their part, indicate that they are doing everything they can to preserve jobs.

Kevin Galvin, director of news and media relations at Harvard said, "Harvard has taken a number of steps to reduce compensation costs, which account for half of our annual operating budget. We have frozen salaries for faculty and non-union staff this year, offered a voluntary early retirement program in which more than 500 employees participated, and strictly limited hiring. Unfortunately, we are facing a projected 30 percent decline in our endowment, and those steps did not generate the savings we needed to achieve in order to avoid the reduction in force that was announced this week.

"University officials have worked closely with the unions representing workers at Harvard to provide them with relevant information about the financial challenges that the schools and the central administration are facing, and to offer them opportunities to suggest alternatives to layoffs. By the time the process is complete, it will have included about 75 impact bargaining sessions over more than four weeks.

"Our staff reductions have been spread evenly across our workforce. The average participant in the Voluntary Early Retirement Plan had an annual salary of $67,000, and about half the participants were hourly employees and half were exempt administrative and professional staff. Again with the reduction in force announced Tuesday, about half of the positions eliminated are administrative or professional positions and almost all of the remaining positions are clerical or technical jobs. Service and trade workers will be largely unaffected."

Carens remains undeterred by such arguments, "Harvard's riches, high profile and marked tendency to act like a rapacious corporation will make it a magnet for bad PR, and larger and larger actions like the one we held today. I wouldn't be at all surprised if much more dramatic initiatives follow in the coming months. What the oligarchs of the Harvard Corporation, and Goldman-Sachs, don't realize is that they are helping to forge a steely coalition of union members, unorganized workers, students, professors, and residents."

Rally organizers plan to call further actions against Harvard's layoff in the coming weeks.

The event was peaceful with a light presence of Harvard Police. There were no arrests.