The membership of UNITE HERE! Local 26, the union that represents many of the employees at the Harvard Club of Boston, ratified its contract with the Club last week with over 95 percent member approval, Local 26 President Brian Lang said.
The Union Bargaining Committee and Club management reached an agreement on the contract on March 9, approximately 10 months after contract negotiations began.
“One of the things that can tell you the economy has gotten better is to look up and see cranes in the sky.”
Tracy Parks, a member of the Boston Workers Alliance and Laborers’ Local 151, told me that recently. And, it is not just cranes in the sky, but also shovels in the ground. On a busy street, you no longer just see suits, you notice more hard hats and lunch boxes. These are pictures of hope, the belief that soon new enterprises will fill buildings, people will be able to enjoy renewed stability, and the city will have a vibrant economy again.
Hotel workers picketed outside the Hilton Boston Downtown in the Financial District yesterday, marching and chanting to protest what organizers say is an anti-union campaign being conducted by hotel management.
The employees recently notified management that they wanted to form a union. Since then, according to the head of the local hospitality workers union, managers have been meeting with workers to discourage them from organizing.
Harvard Local 26 chief steward Ed Childs and Harvard Law leader Alice Brown
On December 2, Restaurant Associates / Compass workers at Harvard Law School became the newest members of UNITE HERE Local 26.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said RA Union committee leader Willie Moore. “And now, if you take one of us on, you take all of us on.”
The Law School workers organized throughout the summer with the help of Harvard Food Service shop stewards and several volunteer Harvard student organizers.
The victory rode the wave of excitement from the successful contract campaign by the 550 workers at Harvard University who were already part of the union, who recently won a landmark new agreement with Harvard. The new contract brought about more than just wages and benefits, but also an ongoing Joint Best Practices Committee – modeled after the efforts of Local 34 and 35 at Yale – charged with finding solutions to sustainable foods, sustainable jobs and year-round employment.
Harvard Law School workers had started attending Harvard food service shop steward meetings even before their union recognition. With this victory, the last non-union group of service workers at Harvard University has joined with their sisters and brothers. Says Harvard Local 26 chief shop steward Ed Childs, “This is just the beginning. Now we’re going to be helping campus food service workers all around Boston to become part of the Union.”