Multiple speakers accused the University of being greedy—saying it is sitting on a “pot of gold”—and alleged it has an anti-union agenda. HUCTW representative Geoff Carens mentioned an alleged human resources planning document that he said encourages harassment of employees with the goal of eliminating their jobs.

“It seems to me the long-term plan is clear—drive out the unions,” said HUCTW member Randy Fenstermacher. “Then bring in the low-wage workers.”

Fenstermacher, a Harvard College Library worker, himself generated a joint protest by HUCTW and PSLM earlier this month when Harvard denied his request to have union representation at a regular performance review.

Edward Childs, a representative from HERE Local 26—which represents dining hall workers—said the University informed him last Wednesday that there would be 50 fewer summer jobs available to dining hall employees this year.

Due to decreased food service demands during the summer, other departments at Harvard have historically taken on dining hall workers, Childs said, but those opportunities have been scaled back—an action which he said runs contrary to HERE’s contract agreement.

“It violated the crux of the agreement that we had—they said they would look into the summer situation,” he said, calling University President Lawrence H. Summers “a liar.”

He also said that 10 more union workers would not be able to obtain summer employment in non-union workplaces that had previously been open to them.

“We can’t get these jobs because we cause trouble,” Childs said. “Well, we intend to cause a lot more trouble.”

But Touborg said applications of dining service employees for summer employment had been submitted to other Harvard departments. They will be notified of their summer status in mid-April, she said.

Katz said the University had been making a good-faith effort to improve labor relations.

“We know the University has invested in improving supervisor training, has hired a University ombudsperson, and has hired people with multi-lingual skills,” he said, adding “it’s probably too early to tell” if such measures will cure all the University’s labor woes.

He said the merits of individual grievances are hard to assess, though labor conditions on the whole have improved substantially—due in large part to University cooperation.

“The rhetoric of all these workers earning below the living wage doesn’t seem to fit the reality,” he said. “The University has taken steps to try to make it easier for people to raise these issues.”

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