As the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) and the University hammer out the final details of their first contract, representatives from both sides say that there was never substantial disagreement over the fact that Harvard needs to do more to give its workers affordable child care.

Indeed, most of the union's demands are identical to those suggested in a report written more than two years ago by the University's current child care negotiator, Simone Reagor. But the negotiating team which has been trying for the past four months to reach a specific agreement on child care terms has not been able to do so yet.

Reagor says that the disagreement comes when the two sides "get down to the dollar issues. The union wants the same things we do, they just want more funding than the University can afford to give."

Harvard currently has seven child care centers which provide day care for students, staff, faculty, alumni and some community members. But the seven centers only have space for 320 children,and there are waiting lists of over 200 names.

And many staff members complain that thecurrent day care system--because of its high costand limited enrollment--is oriented more towardthe needs of faculty than employees.

John T. Dunlop, the University's chief contractnegotiator, says that the problem withestablishing full-paid child care is that theUniversity must find a way to divide its availablemoney between pensions, raises and healthinsurance as well as child care.

In its search for solutions to the day caredilemma, the University recently consulted withStride Rite head Arnold S. Hiatt '48, a HarvardBoard of Overseers member whose companyestablished a model child care system more thantwo decades ago.

And Hiatt says that he would expect Harvard, asan "enlightened" institution and as a business, tobe very responsive to the issue of child care."It's an investment that has a large return," hesaid. One dollar spent on child care saves $4.75later on social programs, according to experts'estimates.

"We're not progressive, just realistic," Hiattsays. "We've been in the child care business for18 years now." At Stride Rite, unions have not hadto bargain for child care because of Hiatt'sinitiatives. "We've never been approached by aunion [about child care]," Hiatt says. "It's neverbeen a union issue. It's been a management issue."

But at Harvard, and most other universities,child care has lagged behind the needs of theemployees--and, inevitably, with unionizationdrives have come demands for improved facilities.

Because of its 83 percent female workforce, thesupport staff union at Harvard has organized, andis now negotiating, around such "family issues" asaffordable day care. In the current negotiations,the union has pressed for a broad platform ofchanges, going from large increases in child careto paid parental leave and scholarship money forday care.

Should the contract agreed on by the Universityand the union address these issues, many observerssay it will serve as a beacon of change in thefield of campus labor relations.

And, according to labor experts, universitiessuch as Harvard are the ideal site at which tonegotiate new and progressive relationshipsbetween management and labor on the child carefront.

Many labor experts say they share the view ofUniversity of Wisconsin Chancellor Donna Shalala,who says, "There are those who believe thatuniversities can only reflect society, but Ibelieve they should be role models for society."

And throughout society the issue of child carehas been a dominant one in the 1980s. As familylife and professional responsibilities have becomeinextricably linked in recent years, families nolonger have the luxury of having one parent stayhome to care for the children while the other oneworks.