THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD (NLRB) took its first small step in the right direction last week by deciding to consider an appeal of February's regional board ruling against Medical Area District 65 of the Distributive Workers of America. The NLRB finally recognized that the substantial and unprecedented issues involved in the longstanding unionizing dispute merit review in Washington.

The drive by District 65 to achieve union status has taken some perverse turns in the past two years. The University, which has opposed unionization at every turn, has consistently blocked the initiative of the NLRB. So Robert Fuchs, vacillating in his decision on the unprecedented case, attempted on several occasions to send it down to Washington.

Now Washington has willingly decided to take the ball into its own court. But the battle by District 65 is far from won. Harvard should recognize the right of its workers to determine the union representation of their own choice. The battle has languished in the halls of the NLRB far too long; there is no guarantee of success for the union there. The University should relent in its opposition to the union, and should instead come to grips with what is already a de facto union in the Med area.

The most recent development, however, which keeps the legal battle for the union alive, is laudable. The NLRB should now promptly follow through, and grant District 65 the unionizing election in the Med area which it deserves.