As the Jan. 7 snowstorm response showed, our town is in a public works staffing crisis. In the past 16 months the DPW lost 50% of its workforce.
No one disputes that Harvard pays significantly less to DPW workers compared to surrounding towns ($3 to $4 less than Ayer, Groton, and Boxborough, according to a recent article in the Press). While many of us have had the luxury of remote work during the pandemic, they showed up and kept our town and schools running. Negotiations for a successor collective bargaining agreement provide the town with a chance to correct this mistake. While private citizens in town are not privy to the status of those negotiations, it is clear that they are stalled over the town’s refusal to pay a living wage.
While I have no involvement in the matter, as a labor lawyer I know from experience that many municipalities bring about self-inflicted staffing crises through such penny-wise and pound-foolish tactics. In an affluent town where many espouse progressive pro-worker values, we should stand by those principles and insist that the town offer to increase the pay of our hard-working DPW workers. The town must step up and end the crisis that it has brought upon itself.
Dennis Coyne
Babbitt Lane
