Word: stewarding
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...Stefani these days. He has a hard time getting people to come to union meetings--they say the neighborhood of the union hall is unsafe at night--but 30 years ago the meetings were jammed, while the union was coming into its own. There were even classes for shop stewards--Stefani has faded photographs from years of annual shop steward graduation nights--but now Stefani does not even know how many shop stewards he has among his 550 members at Harvard, the biggest single bloc of his union...
...shift in the Harvard Cooks' attitude first became apparent in December, when Sherman L. Holcombe, the newly-elected shop steward at Radcliffe's dining halls, submitted a list of grievances about Harvard and Stefani to the Personnel Office. Holcombe, a 45-year-old former truck driver, complained that Harvard was not listing fully its work reflied its and joy openings, and that the union was overcharging workers on their dues. He also asked that Harvard find year-round dining room employment for union members, rather than giving them different jobs during the summer...
...mixed feelings about Stefani. At one point in a recent interview he said he is "dissatisfied with Stefani," but a little later on he said, "Stefani has done what I asked: I presented him with grievances. He answered and has given me good advice to being a shop steward at Harvard." Holcombe now insists his gripes are with Harvard, not Stefani, but he says it is his "dream" to be in on the negotiations this spring...
Sherman Holcombe says he has one here--Alan Balsam, a 23-year-old, politically radical Brandeis alumnus who is shop steward of the College dining halls. Balsam, an intense man who wears rimless glasses, is a curiously complementary figure to Stefani. He got a job in the Brandeis dining halls after his graduation and organized the workers there into the Cooks and Pastry Cooks, leaving shortly thereafter for a higher-paying job here. He works in Winthrop House dining hall and is carrying on an active, secretive organizing campaign aimed at building a strong position for the negotiations...
Stefani cited the poor attendance record of Radcliffe employees at union meetings. Holcombe later admitted to not attending the union meetings himself, but said he plans to now that he is steward...