McCombe's security guards union split from 254 before the deal was signed. The break was due to problems with union certification, but guards say they were glad to avoid 254's cuts in benefits.

"I still got the benefits I had three years ago. If I had stayed with 254, I wouldn't have anything," says security guard Ernie Duarte. "[254] got sold down the river."

The guards have been operating without a contract for the past three years. They last signed a contract in 1992, which expired in 1995 and was renewed for one year. Since then, they have been operating with the same wages and benefits package.

McCombe, who wears a black Russian hat with an off-kilter security guard emblem, says he believes that the University has been unreasonably slow in its negotiating tactics. He jokes, but only partially, that the "S" on his hat stands for security and not slave.

Duarte, who is 32, has been working for Harvard for about ten years. He makes $11.97 an hour, which he says forces him to "live week to week."

"We've had the same benefits since 1992," says Joe Beck, a security guard. "We haven't gained, we haven't lost."

But compared to 254, the guards say they still consider this a victory.

Size Matters

The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) with 3,700 members, dwarfs Local 254 along with every other union on campus.

McCombe's union has 130 members, and 254 has about 300.

While HUCTW now stands as a shining example of how Harvard has successfully negotiated with its unions so that both people on each side of the bargaining table are happy, its current negotiating success, in many ways, can be attributed to its size which gives it great negotiating leverage.

"It's easier for us to deal with the University because it's harder for them to threaten to outsource all its clerical and technical workers," says Donene M. Williams, past president for nine years and current treasurer of HUCTW.

HUCTW's negotiating advantages were apparent during a 1996 fight over health benefits. The University tried to make part-time workers pay double what they had for the same health benefits.

HUCTW struck back with a fall of constant demonstrations, beginning with an Oct. 30 Halloween "spooky" rally where members wore masks of then University Provost Albert Carnesale.

Their protests continued with a candle-light vigil outside of University President Neil L. Rudenstine's house around Christmas. In the end, HUCTW won, and the University was forced to give the same benefits to all of Harvard's other unions.