The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) held a rally outside of Massachusetts Hall yesterday to unveil a new poster with 5,000 signatures of those who support the union.

Approximately 200 people attended the rally, which was held to celebrate some of the union's recent successes and to display solidarity.

"This is the biggest poster our union has ever done," said Ethan L. Mutschler, a staff assistant in the Freshman Seminar Program, said. "As a part-timer, this poster means a lot to me. It means as a part-timer, I'm not alone."

The signatures are from members of HUCTW, students and members Harvard's seven other unions.

The chief issue which the speakers at the rally addressed was the ongoing discussions between the union and the University about benefit programs for union members.

"[I came] to try to emphasize to the University administration that we are trying to keep our benefits as satisfactory as we can and try to keep cuts to a minimum," said Stephen T. Wagner, a staff assistant at the Law School.

Wagner, who is currently enrolled in the HealthFlex Family Plan, will see his health care costs rise 117 percent this year, as a result of Blue Cross raising its premiums significantly.

"My wife and I both have health problems. She has to be able to pick out people she can really trust," he said.

The union used the rally to update its members on the progress of the Joint Committee on Benefits, which was created as part of the contract agreement reached between HUCTW and the University this summer.

"The main theme of today's event is that we're going to see how many times we can say Joint Committee on Benefits," Robert Mendelson, one of the union members who opened the rally, said.

"I think, as a member of the Joint Committee on Benefits, that it's important for every member of our union, even every member of the Harvard community, to know as much as possible about the Joint Committee on Benefits," Mendelson said.

The Joint Committee on Benefits is charged with recommending changes to existing and new programs, as well as monitoring the design of the benefits programs.

"Today, we're beginning the celebration of a better, healthier process which gives us an opportunity to achieve better, healthier benefits policies," said Bill Yaeger, director of HUCTW.

Donene M. Williams, the president of HUCTW, said: "In negotiations this last spring and summer, we were determined to make sure that joint committee was set up right--as a serious, active process that could solve short-term problems, find alternatives to bad ideas and develop plans for better, new programs in the long term."

"This fall, we begin to make that potential into real policy improvements," she said.

"I'm very pro-union," said Susan D. Kadovsky, who was carrying a sign reading. "No Cuts. Harvard can afford 100% paid health care."