Geoff P. Carens, who has worked in Lamont Library’s Government Documents section for 15 years and is a union representative with the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), said the HMC fund manager salaries indicate that Harvard can afford to create more full-time jobs and does not need to lay off workers.

“Many of the people in my union are being laid off now,” said Carens, who held a sign reading “Justice for Janitors” during the protest. “Harvard should be the gold standard of how workers are treated and it’s just the reverse.”

Harvard College Library will layoff 10 workers on June 30 in an effort to eliminate a $2.3 million deficit for the 2005 fiscal year.

Bartley said he hopes that the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), which he said has “extraordinary informal power” within the University, will speak out on behalf of the workers.

“We hope that they will in an informal and formal way, maybe a letter to [University President Lawrence H.] Summers, support the need for more full-time workers at Harvard,” he said.

Under the rain—and the gaze of Harvard University Police Department officers—PSLM members handed wet fliers outlining the workers’ complaints to alums as they streamed into Lamont for the reception. Alumni were attending the final event of an HAA leadership conference.

“Alumni may not know about the problem and we’re here to educate them,” said Bartley. “We see alums as allies in this issue. Alumni don’t want there to be problems that can be easily resolved.”

HAA President John Reardon did not return requests for comment, and several alums entering the reception declined comment.

—Staff writer May Habib can be reached at habib@fas.harvard.edu.