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Harvard, janitors reach deal that may have ripple effect
Deal could set bar for wages in other states
By Katheleen Conti
Globe Staff

In a span of just five months, thousands of low-wage union workers in Greater Boston have racked up victories against powerful institutions and employers, at a time when the discontent of the working class shaped the presidential election.

The latest came early Wednesday when Harvard University struck a deal with the union representing about 700 janitors who had threatened a walkout. The tentative agreement would increase hourly pay for most workers to nearly $25 by 2020.

While the uprising that propelled Donald Trump into the White House was centered in industrial Midwestern states, the same economic tensions fueled the militant bargaining by low-wage services workers in prosperous Massachusetts, which has one of the largest gaps in incomes between the rich and poor in the nation.

“We’ve seen a rebellion of those people who have been left out of the great economic recovery of America,’’ said Barry Bluestone, professor of public policy at Northeastern University. “Many of these people voted for Trump because of something like blind rage at the fact that some people are doing incredibly well in the economy and others ­haven’t seen a wage increase in 25 years.’’

The actions in Massachusetts were targeted at institutions with deep pockets, such as Harvard, and an industry riding a tremendous boom, the commercial real estate market. Dining hall workers at Harvard used a three-week strike — the university’s first walkout in more than three decades — to win concessions that included a minimum annual salary of $35,000 for full-time workers.

Locking long-term contracts was key for the unions representing the workers. By 2020, about 200 janitors at Tufts University will be making close to $22 an hour, while some of the 13,000 workers who clean commercial office buildings in Greater Boston will get an hourly wage of $20. Janitors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will make close to $24 an hour by 2019.

Still, about a third of all workers in Massachusetts make less than $15 an hour, said Anmol Chaddha, a policy analyst for the Boston Federal Reserve. Many work full time, are at least 30 years old, and the majority are black or Latino.

By raising the wage floor — even while under the threat of strikes — large institutions like Harvard or the state’s health care industry, for instance, may influence labor markets in similar industries nationwide, Chaddha said, even in states where the economic rebound has not been as great.

“There’s been this pattern of ‘race to the bottom’ among employers, in the service industries in general, and these large institutions we have in Massachusetts and the Boston area can play a role in establishing a higher-road approach to employment,’’ he said. “The sentiments that people feel, like that economic growth is not benefiting everybody and people are being left out by this — that is quite common across states.’’

And with public sentiment across the country mostly in favor of raising minimum wages, he said the current political environment creates an opportunity for wide-ranging policies that benefit low-income workers everywhere.

“The basic conditions are pretty similar: high inequality, strong economic growth, a prevalence of low-wage jobs is something you see across states,’’ he said. “People are still having a hard time paying for health care, housing, etc. Those ideas is what drives it.’’

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKConti.