The University is considering a plan that would qualify union employees for benefits under Harvard's Tuition Assistance Plan (TAP), a program that currently allows only non-union workers to enroll in Harvard courses at greatly reduced tuition levels.

Local 26 of the Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Employees Union--which represents Harvard's dining hall workers--last week filed a grievance on the matter with the University after a union member was denied reduced-tuition enrollment in a course last fall.

Edward M. Monroe, a worker in the College Dining Hall, met last Thursday with Edward W. Powers, associate general counsel for employee relations, and representatives of Local 26 to discuss the TAP denial.

The union grievance argues that benefits under the recently-adopted TAP program--which allows workers to enroll in one course per semester at what amounts to 1/20th of the normal tuition fee--should not be restricted to non-unionized clerical employees.

Powers said yesterday the University could not have included the union workers when it decided to adopted the new program last July, since the University is not allowed to change the terms of a union contract unilaterally.

Any extension of benefits would have to result from negotiations in the grievance process between the University and union representatives, he said.

Under current contracts, union workers qualify for the benefits of an older program that allows them to enroll only in job-related courses, with an academic department's consent.

Monroe said yesterday he expects the University to agree soon to extend the new program to union workers, as it has in the past routinely applied new benefits to all of its employees.

"It's an indefensible position for the University to take, to allow a secretary in William James to take a course, and not a cook in Eliot House," he added.

Powers said only that he is "continuing to explore" the possibility of expanding the program, and would not comment on when the University would reach a final decision.

The cost of expanding the program--which also reimburses employees who take courses at other schools--would be a major factor in the final decision, he added.

Alan Balsam, chief shop steward for Local 26, said yesterday that he expects the University and the union to reach an agreement on extension of the program in the next few weeks.

"It's a technical question--the union and the University agree in principle; it's just a matter of implementing it," he said