DiMaggio said yesterday’s protest was held to bring attention to the negotiations with the guards.

But Jones called protests the “fashionable thing to do these days” and said they only distracted the negotiators from discussions at the table.

Levy said while the union currently has no plans for future protests in the hopes that talks will conclude May 7, he has asked PSLM members to prepare for the possibility of a rally in two weeks.

The guards union formed in 1996 after security, museum and parking guards chose to break off from Service Employees International Union. Security guards worked without a contract until 1999, when they reached a settlement that many felt was unfair because it did not include wage hikes.

In the late 1990s, many of the longest-serving guards accepted a contract buyout package from Harvard, which has decided to outsource most of its security guards. Partially as a result of the departure of those higher-paid employees, median inflation-adjusted hourly wages for security guards declined from $14.31 in 1994 to $11.97 in 2001.

Under the HCECP’s recommendations, Harvard’s outsourced and directly-employed guards must receive equal compensation.

Although the current talks only involve wages, Harvard will renegotiate all provisions of the 1999 contract when it expires in June 2003.

—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.