To the Editors of The Crimson:

As a former Harvard employee, Harvard Clerical and Technical Workers member, and negotiator for the 1989 contract, I did and still do understand the basic needs and issues involved in the ongoing union contract negotiations.

From what I have heard and read from a distance, it seems that the University has yet to make the quantum leap to enlightenment (or, at least, to mutual understanding!). We believed this might happen over the course of the past three years, but it seems that horizon was more distant than we had thought.

Contract negotiation is not simply a matter of bringing the realities of the workers' world into the board room and demanding that the hierarchs "pay up;" it is essentially a matter of establishing mutual respect and then deciding how that is to be translated into dollars and cents, or wages and benefits This is the big reality check for everyone involved--and it shouldn't become a game, a battle or any sort of adversarial or competitive encounter; this is serious evaluation of the past and an opportunity to create a model of the future.

Harvard workers most certainly deserve every benefit they are negotiating for. It is due recompense for loyalty, devotion and just plain hard work. Harvard workers anonymously ensure that the University's pre-eminent status remains intact, and its prestige and wealth flourish. They also deserve to deal with the President of the University in person, without delay. Lucinda Ann Scanlon