"We've actually worked with these advisorygroups," Green said. "They're working very hard."

For example, Green said the faculty advisorygroup, which he also chairs, has met three timesthis month and that other groups are meeting everycouple of weeks.

But Williams said it is not the frequency ofmeetings but the weight they carry that concernsHUCTW.

"It's an intentionally diminished role,"Williams said. "They knew that it would not be aprocess that would be respectful of the union."

"They alone defined the problem," she added."They alone defined the process for finding asolution."

Last week, Jaeger accused the administration ofexcluding the workers who will eventually be mostaffected by any changes in benefits.

"This looks like a process that a small groupof top-level, highly-paid administrators aretrying to control very tightly," he said.

Green said yesterday that he recognized theissue was sensitive. Employee benefits involveeverything from child care to health care toretirement.

In the last two decades, the averageprofessorial retirement age has risen from 65 to70, more married women have joined the work force,and health care costs have skyrocketed, theprovost said.

But union leaders said the best way to find outabout employees' needs is to give them a voice onthe task force.

"Members of the Harvard community dependheavily on these benefits," Jaeger said last week."For many Harvard families, these benefits aretools for survival.