Members of a student coalition formed in support of a fired Dining Services cook yesterday charged that the University has made a concerted effort to break the labor union to which dinning hall workers belong.

Joshua L. Oppenheimer '96 of the Harvard-Radcliffe Labor Alliance, Tymothi O. Tombar '94 of the Black Students Association and Alejandro Reuss '93 said the University's Office of Human Resources had actively worked to fire Darryl Hicks, a cook in the College's largest dinning hall and a shop steward in Local 26 of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union.

"Every step of the way. Holyoke Center has worked to fire this one worker." Oppenheimer said of the Hicks firing. "The University has strategically undermined morale in the labor union. It's a strategic attempt to break the union."

Associate Director of Labor Relations Carolyn R. Young '76 and University Attorney Anne Taylor vehemently denied the new charge yesterday. "I'm absolutely unaware of any such effort, and deny that it occurred," Taylor said. "On the whole, I think it's a very constructive relationship with the union," said Young, who declined to comment on the specifics of the Hicks case.

Hicks was terminated last month by Director of Dining Services Michael P. Berry because of a poor record of job performance and attendance--a record that Hicks said was largely fabricated by managers looking for a reason to fire him.

Citing their own research and interviews with dining hall workers, the students, who began distributing flyers in support of Hicks this week, alleged that the Harvard administration has worked to promote racism and sexism in University dining halls as part of a "divide-and-conquer" strategy designed to break the union.

"It's a direct assault against the existence of this union," Reuss said.

The students said they will circulate a petition in the houses, calling for the reinstatement of Hicks and the end of discriminatory treatment of dining hall workers. A meeting for students concerned about the treatment of dining hall workers is planned for next Wednesday in the Harvard Union, Oppenheimer said.

Hicks himself yesterday expressed agreement with the allegations made in the coalition flyer. "I totally agree with it," Hicks said.

Berry and Director of Human Resources Diane Patrick were out of their offices yesterday and could not be reached for comment. Berry denied Hicks's charges last month, and he promised to question dining workers more closely about how they are treated in dining halls.

But this promise has not appeased the student coalition. The group members said they were investigating how Berry had dealt with unions at other universities where he has managed board plans. Berry came to Harvard from the University of California, Irvine, in 1991.

The student coalition began distributing flyers to students this week. The flyers detail Hicks's employment history and seven different ways in which dining hall managers mistreat workers.

Tombar of the Black Students Association, which is also part of the coalition, said the flyers will be door-dropped in the houses in the next week.

In interviews with The Crimson, dining hall workers have complained of being verbally abused and being forced to work when they are sick.

The flyer handed out by the students contained a new charge, which students said was based on their conversations with dining hall workers.

The flyer said women dining workers in Eliot. Kirkland, Leverett, Lowell and Winthrop Houses were not permitted to work during spring break. The general manager of those halls "claimed that he was protecting women workers from the noxious fumes of cleaning chemicals," the flyer said.

The manager in question did not return phone calls yesterday.

Oppenheimer said the group has invited Cambridge Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 to speak at Wednesday night's meeting. Reeves has not yet accepted or declined, Oppenheimer said.

"I think the University does a very good job of making its indiscretions seem isolated," Oppenheimer said. "They're using racism for a method which is monetary--to divide workers.