Harvard University, like a lot of employers, seems to want to shed as many older workers as possible. With a combination of “voluntary” retirements, mass layoffs, and leaving vacant jobs unfilled, the university has gotten rid of hundreds of experienced clerical workers over the last couple of years. Lately as a union rep I’ve been seeing growing numbers of older workers who are getting lousy job reviews, radically-increased workloads, unfair discipline and thinly-veiled hints that they should “know when to quit.” Some are even getting fired; it’s cheaper to fire a worker than to lay her off. Most of the workers in my union are women.

HUCTW member Joan Frankel’s case is especially glaring.