The slow swish of Shakespeare Christmas’ broom is the only sound in Paine Concert Hall early in the morning.

At 9 a.m. Harvard’s music department has not yet filled the building with the sounds of tuning instruments and lectures.

“I get here at five o’clock every morning,” Christmas says with a soft Caribbean accent as he details his daily routine of scrubbing, dusting and vacuuming from 5 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

“When I get here the first thing I do is take out the trash in all the offices and classrooms, then I have to wash the floors—I dry mop it, wet mop it, and buff it at least three or four times a week. I vacuum the rugs in the hall, then I do the bathrooms,” he says.

Christmas spends most of his working day in silence. For the first hours of his shift, he is the only person inside of Paine Concert Hall and continues to work alone even as morning classes begin.

Despite the solitude, the janitor says he has grown used to the pace of his day.

“There is enough work here to keep you busy,” Christmas says.

The Negotiators

Two months ago, Christmas was nominated by his fellow workers to be part of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 254’s team negotiating with University for a new contract for janitors.

He has spent the last six Tuesdays in a first-floor conference room at the Sheraton Commander Hotel on Garden Street, working to hammer out a compromise on wages and benefits.

Late Wednesday night, SEIU and the University agreed on a proposal that would pay all Harvard janitors at least $11.35 per hour—a wage that will rise to $13.50 by 2005.

For Christmas, Wednesday night’s compromise will raise his pay to $11.50 per hour, the rate determined for janitors with at least three years of experience.

According to Christmas, who says he is currently making $10 per hour, this will mark the largest pay raise he has received in his six years of Harvard janitorial work.

Christmas says the agreement changed the worker perception of SEIU, a union known among workers for past mismangement and poor negotiating.

“At first [workers] were looking out for something because the old union screwed things up,” Christmas says. “They had no confidence.”