Socialists kick off S.F. election campaign

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4 SOCIALIST ACTION JULY 1988 Angie Fa Gerald Butler SAN FRANCISCO-Socialist Action kicked off its San Francisco city election campaign with a rally on Friday, June 26.

Joseph Ryan, socialist candidate for S.F. Board of Supervisors, and Sylvia Weinstein, socialist candidate for S.F. Board of Education, addressed the rally. Also speaking were representatives of the San Francisco Black Firefighters Association and the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union Local 2.

Over $4000 was raised to support the campaign during the fund pitch.

San Francisco is currently facing a $179million budget deficit, and the Democratic party politicians who run the city are forcing workers to pay the bill. Already a wage freeze has gone into effect for all city workers, and 400 have lost their jobs in what the San Francisco Examiner has called, "the largest lay-offs in San Francisco's history."

Joseph Ryan and Sylvia Weinstein explained that the Mayor and Board of Supervisors are only doing their jobs as representatives of the corporations and banks that run San Francisco. If working people want to see education, jobs, and social services come before corporate profits, they are going to have to put up a fight, the socialist candidates said.

Jerry Butler of the Black Firefighters Association reported on the continuing fight for affirmative action in the San Francisco Fire Department.

Angie Fa of Local 2 told the rally about her union's fight for a fair contract with the city's hotels and restaurants. Both speakers thanked Socialist Action for the help given to these struggles.

Joseph Ryan remarked, "It's no accident that at a socialist election rally you have two activists from struggles in the union Sylvia Weinstein otos by Adam Wood/Socialist Action Joseph Ryan

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HARVARD UNION DE CLERICAL AND TECHNICAL WORKERS CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—On the night of May 17, the spontaneous chant of "union, union, union" reverberated throughout Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. The cheers were in response to the announcement of a union victory. Harvard's 3400 clerical and technical workers (C&Ts) had voted to form their own union, the Harvard University Clerical and Technical Workers Union (HUCTW).

The crowd was small-approximately 300 workers-but energetic. The margin of victory was tiny44 votes. But workers and organizers present were still elated.

The victorious organizing drive of the new union (affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) is potentially both a boost to existing drives and an inspiration for new ones. One can guess that this victory has bosses at Harvard and elsewhere nervous. Right next door at Boston University, clerical and technical workers are in the midst of a union drive.

After the vote, organizers and activists were anticipating immediate contract negotiations. But Harvard adminıstrators— mindful of the drive's potential, the narrow margin of victory, and the general weakness of the new union-came up with plans of their own.

Move to invalidate election A week after the count, they moved to have the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) invalidate the election, citing the narrow win margin and alleging instances of union misconduct. Although less than a quarter of such challenges are won, a clear attempt has been made to discredit the union and to delay negotiations.

By BARBARA PUTNAM This is not the first time the Harvard administration has gone to the NLRB. Twice before, C&Ts confronted Harvard's bosses at the Medical Area-but they suffered narrow losses. In 1984, in an apparent attempt to further squash any organizing hopes, the administration appealed to the NLRB, which ruled that the whole campus—not one area at a time— could unionize.

Despite this ruling, despite the bosses' insistence that a union is unnecessary in an academic institution and could "damage Harvard's educational mission," many Harvard clerical workers rally for union recognition employees realized that Harvard is like any other big corporate enterprise. Supporters of the union wore buttons reading, "You can't eat prestige.

During the drive, union organizers raised important issues (such as daycare and comparable worth) that gained a hearing among the women that make up a majority of the workforce. Unfortunately, HUCTW stressed a technique of "one-to-one" organizing as opposed to that of mass mobilizations. "Strike" was known as the "S-word," and rallies rarely exceeded a couple-hundred activists.

This perspective will have to change il order to effectively combat and prevent future attacks by the Harvard administration. Confidence and solidarity among the workers can only be built by means of large-scale mobilizations and rallies.

Nevertheless, Harvard workers are learning the value of union membership. One worker said, "If we stand up for each other, we're also standing up for ourselves. Another employee of 24 years said, "Once you stand up for yourself, you can never sit down again." And the union does not intend to sit down.

Informational meetings on the contract are going on throughout the campus. It's exciting to hear Harvard workers voice what they believe a good contract should include —health and safety measures, good and affordable daycare, fully paid and decent healthcare, adequate pensions, and pay equity.

These are all things that workers everywhere deserve. The union will make Harvard a better place to work.

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WORKING TOGETHER STANDING TOGETHER

WE BELIEVE IN KELOURSELVEU

APSCME• WECAN T EAT PRESTIGE