Policy Order O-25

WHEREAS: The City of Cambridge has an excellent reputation as an employer that treats its workers with dignity and fairness, and which can rightly boast that its workers are paid prevailing wages and given access to affordable health care coverage. As such, the City has the expectation that the institutions within our community would treat their workers similarly; and

WHEREAS: It has come to the City Council's attention that Harvard Medical School is planning to terminate 31 custodians in September in order to cut operating costs, yet this cost-cutting measure is coming at the expense of the institution's lowest-paid, least-protected workers, and it is not at all clear that Harvard has taken every conceivable measure to pare down expenses elsewhere in its budget before resorting to these terminations; and

WHEREAS: There will undoubtedly be negative ripple effects within our community due to these layoffs, as the 31 laid-off custodians will be forced to seek new employment in an already-strained job market, and they may well be forced to seek public assistance such as food stamps and public housing, due to their loss of income; now therefore be it

RESOLVED: That the City Council formally goes on record in condemning Harvard Medical School's decision to terminate 31 custodians on August 17, 2013, and the City Council strongly urges the institution to reconsider this course of action.