"Are you going to stand up for your brothers and sisters in the cash operations?" Loux asked the workers, their family members and observers at the meeting in the First Parish Unitarian-Universalist Church.

The crowd of more than 200 stood up, cheered and shook almost 100 homemade noisemakers that union organizers handed out.

"I make $9.62 an hour and I've worked there almost three years. I should be making $13 or $14," said Raymond Birden, a function cook at the Harvard School of Public Health. "I'm willing to go on strike for higher wages for cash ops."

Loux also cursorily touched on job security, the hiring of casual workers, outsourcing, scheduling and sick leave as issues that the union would raise when they sit down with the University during negotiations.

"We must stand together as a union and bring this fight to a finish until we win," Loux said. "Harvard has sent a message to us already. They want to attack our sick leave policy."

"What? Not our sick leave policy!" a worker at the meeting shouted.

Loux then led the crowd in a chant of "Whatever it takes as long as it takes."