The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) will vote today on an extension of its contract with the University.

The current HUCTW contract was adopted in June 1995, the same year Timothy R. Manning, Harvard's former director of employee relations, joined the University.

The contract extension, which HUCTW President Domene M. Williams predicts "will be overwhelmingly ratified," includes salary increases averaging 4.5 percent per year with extra benefits for long-time employees.

This year's contract negotiation was precipitated by Manning's departure.

Manning's work at Harvard during his first year led to marked progress in the school's contract negotiations. Since then HUCTW has developed a strong relationship with him.

Since a contract negotiation normally lasts about a year, one would have begun this summer for HUCTW's current contract, which was set to expire in June 1999.

But with Manning's departure imminent, HUCTW officials worried the University would not have a permanent employee prepared to begin negotiations this summer.

The leadership of HUCTW, a union of more than 3,500 Harvard employees, leapt at the opportunity to extend its current contract rather than attempt a full renegotiation.

"The fact that the University would not have someone in the central administration to negotiate with us precipitated this negotiation," Williams said.

"We took the opportunity to get some gains in areas we had been working on," she said.

"This came up unexpectedly for us," said Bill Jaeger, HUCTW director. "It was an opportunity to seize a moment when the University was willing to talk about some issues that haven't been resolved before."

Instead of the normal three-year contract, the Union negotiated for a two-year extension.

Under the contract extension, workers will alsoreceive extra paid vacation days around Christmasand New Year's, giving them a full week ofvacation. Previously, workers had to choosebetween coming in to an empty office between thetwo holidays or using precious summer vacationdays.

Williams called the four weeks of paidpaternity and adoptive parent leave "somethingwe're really proud of."

"Not many employers give that," Williams added.

"The new leave program basically says thatalong with birth mothers, new fathers and adoptiveparents need time to adjust to the changes intheir lives," Jaeger said. "It's an unusuallyforward-looking thing."

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.

Other members see the Union's move as wisdomrather than weakness.

"I thought it was a very good strategic move onthe Union's part," said Laura Johnson, a staffassistant in the history department, who has beena HUCTW member since 1984.

"I've been through the Union's whole history soI'm well aware of the progress the Union's made,"Johnson said. HUCTW will be celebrating its tenthbirthday this year.

"The Union's usually not pressured intoanything that we don't think is good to all ofus," O'Connell said.

Merry Touborg, a spokesperson for the Office ofHuman Resources, said the University is notdivulging the contents of the new contract untilafter the vote. She referred questions about thespeed of negotiations to HUCTW leadership.

The extension was a chance for HUCTW to "goforward without having a full-scale negotiation,"Touborg said.

HUCTW and the University have on-goingcommunications despite the vacancy left byManning, according to Touborg