A proposed reduction in the University's contribution to total health costs for part-time workers has become a key sticking point in union negotiations, members of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) said recently.

Union leaders blasted the University's proposal as unfair to part-time workers.

"In the past, the University has paid 85 percent of the premium," said HUCTW President Donene Williams. "For people who work part-time, they'll pay 70 percent of the cheapest plan [under the proposed changes]. We have between 500 and 600 part-time workers who would be affected."

"That change is a penalty," she added.

Williams said that no member of the union would be better off under the proposed benefits plan.

"It's not a series of changes that actually raise anyone's benefits," HUCTW's president said. "The way the premiums are measured makes it impossible for anyone to stay the same."

Merry Touborg, a spokesperson for the Office of Human Resources, said that although she can't comment on the exact nature of the negotiations, benefits is the main issue.

"There are differences about benefits that we are attempting to work through," Touborg said. "Bear in mind some of the unions have negotiated new contracts and accepted benefits changes."

Indeed, four of Harvard's unions have agreed to the benefits changes, according to Touborg.

The University has been negotiating intensively with HUCTW, the largest of Harvard's nine unions, since its three-year contract expired on June 30.

Another major issue in the negotiations is the University's proposal that members pay a $10 fee for every doctor visit, according to union leaders.

This increased co-payment will end up penalizing workers with families and people with chronic health conditions, since both of these groups are likely to spend more time at the doctor's office, Williams said.

But HUCTW wasn't uniformly critical of the proposed benefits changes.

"There's a change in eligibility for retiree health," Williams said. "You used to have to be enrolled in a Harvard plan for at least 10 years [to get benefits]. That's a change that makes some sense."

Relatively Hopeful

While declining to speculate on the duration of the negotiations, Touborg said "Everyone is hopeful. It's very hard to predict."

"We're having better, healthier discussions than we were having in '92," said HUCTW Director Bill Jaeger. "We're talking or meeting in some form every day."

"We're not yet as concerned as we came to be by the fall or winter of '92."

In contrast, previous HUCTW negotiations have been quite drawnout and acrimonious.

In 1992, talks continued a full six monthsafter the union's contract expired.

The negotiations were marked by bitterprotests. On Halloween, union members set up a"witches cauldron" in front of the home ofPresident Neil L. Rudenstine. In other protests,they carried an effigy of the president