Representatives for HUCTW could not be reached for comment.

In Other Matters

The other controversial topic discussed at last night’s meeting, members said, was the alleged harassment of HUCTW member and Harvard College Library (HCL) employee Randy Fenstermacher.

The flyer circulated in advance of the meeting accused Peter J. Martel of HCL Human Resources and Timothy J. Gray, manager of HCL Security Services, of “disciplining [Fenstermacher] merely for requesting Union representation.”

According to Touborg, Fenstermacher was not harassed for requesting representation but was instead denied representation at a performance review, which management is not required to allow.

“The performance review is appropriately a conversation between the supervisor and the employee...and there is no contractual or legal requirement that anyone else be present,” she wrote in an e-mail. “The employee...refused to appear for his performance review. At no point was this employee harassed.”

Martel declined to comment, and Gray could not be reached last night.

The flyer urged HUCTW to take a more aggressive stand in Fenstermacher’s defense and asked union members to e-mail Martel to protest Fenstermacher’s treatment.

Members at the meeting also discussed the union’s position on a possible war in Iraq. A straw poll—some union members said it was the first straw poll in almost 15 years—was taken on the union’s position.

The members present expressed by a wide margin their sense that the union should adopt a resolution opposing the war, but they lacked the quorum of approximately 300 bodies required to approve a resolution.

—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.