Discourse and Discord

Despite the enthusiasm of the union'sleadership, a small faction of its members havevoiced opposition to the negotiation process.

"In years past we've had a longer time to thinkit over, come together and discuss amongstourselves what the members want for a contract,"said Tom Potter, a faculty secretary at the LawSchool, and leader of the Union "pro-democracycaucus."

Potter said members should have been given morethan six weeks to consider the extension. He alsosaid it is inappropriate to change the contractwithout an elected negotiation team.

Among the improvements Potter would have likedto see in the contract are better pensionarrangements, improved health benefits and asalary offer that better reflects the region'shealthy economy.

His wishes are in line with the statedlong-term goals of HUCTW's leadership.

Over 40 informational meetings were held acrosscampus since the extension was finalized inJanuary. Williams estimates that about 300 membersattended these meetings.

"Getting ten percent of your members out tomeetings is pretty standard," Williams said. "Allthe leaders in our union have spent the last monthhaving one-on-one discussions about thisextension."

Mary R. Hopkins '79, who works in Widener'sSpanish cataloguing department, said "the wholeprocess has happened so fast there hasn't beenmuch time for us to go through the process oftalking to people."

But Anne M. O'Connell, who works at theBusiness School and is a Union representative,said the Union organizing committees have beenworking for the past month to raise members'awareness of the changes.

Hopkins said the extension will probably passbecause the opposition did not have time toorganize.

"I hope it won't pass by a lot because my sensefrom talking to people is that they're not happywith the way this happened," Hopkins said.

Both Hopkins and Potter said HUCTW should havetaken a stronger position with the University.

"I think the Union got put on the spot verybadly by the University," Hopkins said.

"This is a fairly large Union and there arequite a lot of things that can't happen withoutour cooperation and we shouldn't be jumping everytime Harvard whistles," she added.