The employees of the University Printing Office seem to be historically at the vanguard of Harvard's not-so-militant labor movement. The printers, who are members of the Graphic Arts International Union, were the first group of Harvard employees ever to walk out when they went on strike seven years ago.

The current walkout, which began April 9, could similarly presage a rough road for other up-coming negotiations. The 32 lithographers and bookbinders on the picket line are dramatizing a simple problem: money.

Harvard is offering a 5.5 per cent wage increase to the striking printers, and at least thus far has refused to budge from this figure. The union wants a total pay boost of about 9 per cent.

For Harvard and other institutions dependent on private fund-raising and investment income, a weak stock market and rampant inflation mean that not only do costs rise but income also is squeezed, because private donors and the endowment are also affected by the same economic trends cited by the printers.

Of course, University employees are less than sympathetic to their employer's difficulties and have their own pressing financial problems. But because of the squeeze the University says is being placed on its budget, Harvard's negotiators cannot afford to be soft-boiled in bargaining with employee unions--in contrast to private industry, where rising profits have made for relatively amicable labor settlements in recent months.

Yesterday over 120 Harvard students gathered at Holyoke Center to demonstrate support for the printers' demands. The demonstrators picketed in Forbes Plaza for over an hour.

So every indication points to a long strike. Negotiations have been held only sporadically, and yesterday's session--the first since the strike began--was unproductive. The union confidently hopes that Harvard will not want Commencement to be marred by picketing employees, but even so, it is probable that someone, if not the printers themselves, will be carrying picket signs and not diplomas come mid-June.