An End in Sight?
Both Harvard and the union said they were prepared to continue negotiations indefinitely and would only go to mediation as a last resort.
In the case that both parties believed no progress was being made with negotiations, they would select a mediator who would make a non-binding recommendation on the contract, Jones said.
“I believe that even if it’s slow going we’d rather make a small amount of progress than no progress,” Jones said. “I’d rather keep at this until we reach agreement.”
Panfil said the union was also committed to avoiding mediation.
Once a contract with SEIU has been agreed to, Harvard will begin talks with the dining worker and security guard unions—negotiations that Jones said may well be affected by the outcome of the current discussions.
Jones said Harvard was considering what he termed the “me-too doctrine,” where the dining and security worker unions would expect the same wage figures as the University would pay the janitors.
—David H. Gellis contributed to the reporting of this story.
—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.