Harvard panel urges raise for low-paid workers
( 2001-12-19 09:04 ) (7 )

A Harvard panel recommended on Wednesday that the world's richest university give its lowest-paid workers an immediate raise, reporting some seven months after students sat in to demand better treatment for custodians, cafeteria workers and guards.

The 19-member committee of faculty, students and employees found that such workers at the nation's oldest seat of learning saw their real wages decline in the last seven years as the university outsourced services.

"We believe the right solution is to fix the system, not gut the system," Harvard economics professor Larry Katz, who chaired the panel, told reporters.

He said the university should continue to use outside contractors "to get higher quality, to improve efficiency, for innovation and expertise, but not use it to get around one's obligations to collective bargaining and to lower wages to the lowest common denominator."

The Katz panel unanimously recommended that Harvard President Lawrence Summers, secretary of the treasury under former President Bill Clinton, reopen negotiations with the unions representing the workers to raise their pay to "at least in the range of $10.83 to $11.30 per hour."

The committee also called for the adoption of a "Harvard parity wage and benefits" policy to cover on-campus contract workers, thus raising their pay and benefits as well.