UC Treasurer Meghamsh Kanuparthy '16, left, Vice-President Sietse K. Goffard, center, and President Gus A. Mayopoulos, right, discuss the Council's work in the past week and introduce new legislation.
UPDATED: March 3, 2014, at 1:00 a.m.
The Undergraduate Council passed legislation relating to a labor dispute between workers and DoubleTree Suites, gender-neutral housing, and the transparency of the UC budget during its general meeting on Sunday.
During the meeting, members from the Student Labor Action Movement group and workers from DoubleTree Suites asked the Council to openly support future efforts to create better working conditions. Although Harvard owns the DoubleTree building, Hilton Hotel Boston runs and manages day-to-day operations.
According to undergraduates from SLAM, DoubleTree workers are planning to boycott the business in an attempt to affect change.
The legislation presented asked the Council to inform UC grant recipients that it would support a boycott and to pressure administrators to support the workers’ requests. The proposal also requested that the UC send a mass email to undergraduates asking them to stop patronizing the hotel if Harvard does not publicly support the demands of the workers by April 1.
UC representatives were not immediately sure whether they had enough information to hand down a decision on the labor dispute or whether it was even within their purview to support the measure.
According to SLAM member Gabriel H. Bayard ’15, University President Drew G. Faust has denied that Harvard has any ties to the management of the hotel. Bayard, however, said he disagreed.
“We know that Harvard has a deep relationship with the DoubleTree hotel,” Bayard said after the meeting.
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Employees of DoubleTree Suites Consider Joining UnionA delegation of workers at the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Boston, which is housed in a Harvard-owned building, presented hotel management with a petition Monday delcaring worker intentions to start the process of considering unionization.
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Let Them UnionizeNo one questions HEI’s right to own and operate hotels and resorts. Yet to prevent workers from using their only leverage point—their numbers—to improve their negotiating position strikes against basic notions of fairness.
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Harvard’s Hotel, Harvard’s StandardsWhile the University upholds admirable standards for its on-campus employees, it does not demand that those employed by its off-campus holdings be offered the same level of protection.
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Protesters Support Unionization Efforts of DoubleTree EmployeesAbout 60 protesters gathered in front of the Smith Campus Center on Thursday afternoon to encourage the University to support the unionization efforts of employees at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Boston, which is housed in a Harvard-owned building.
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Graduate Student Council Passes DoubleTree ResolutionThe resolution, which is nearly identical to one passed by the Undergraduate Council earlier this week, calls upon the graduate body to urge relevant Harvard administrators to support fair process as workers decide whether or not to unionize.
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Don’t Boycott the DoubleTreeA central aim of the boycott is to influence the DoubleTree management’s choice between two legal unionization processes. That alone does not warrant intervention by Harvard.
