"We've created a fund to help union memberswith the costs of adoption," Williams said, addingthat the fund will begin with $15,000 and add$6,000 in 1996 and 1997.

The contract also provides for extra personaltime during the winter holiday season, Jaegersaid. Starting in 1996 and 1997, members will have3 days off instead of the current one and a half.

"The little things that are not big cost items,that haven't gotten a lot of publicity, will makeHarvard a better place to work," Jaeger said.

Although the contract must be approved byHUCTW's members, union leaders said that theyexpect the contract to be easily ratified at theirSeptember meeting.

"I feel the members will be very happy,"Williams said, noting that the union will beworking to inform their members about the contractin the coming weeks.

This year's five-month negotiation period ismuch shorter than the 1992 negotiations, whichlasted into January. Negotiators say they workedhard to avoid another prolonged process.

"In some ways, these negotiations were moredifficult in 1992 because of the challenges of thebenefits issue," Williams said. "The way weactually conducted the talks [this year] wassmoother."

"The major focus was to reach an agreement asquickly as possible," Manning said. "When you getinto a protracted process, it becomes verydisruptive."

"I think it's a good sign that we've reachedanother plateau in our relationship," he said.

"I think it's great for the whole Universitycommunity that we could find a healthy way to keepworking together on the benefits issue," Jaegersaid. "It's a big relief for us. There were somemoments where that seemed potentially reallyvolatile.