Even the exclusive Harvard Club of New York City isn’t above pinching pennies.
Critics of the Midtown club say they are fed up with management’s stingy ways — such as instructing staff to squeeze five or six glasses of wine from a bottle instead of the usual four — and a crackdown on workers who refuse to toe the line.
Fueling the outrage is the dismissal of several longtime workers, including a popular bartender who had worked there for more than 40 years. At least three staffers have been canned this year, most recently a maître d’ who was suspended twice for handing out free drinks, although two of the cases are still in arbitration, sources said.
Several members wrote formal complaints to protest the firings, while other members stopped going to the club, sources said.
“I would say half the [active] membership is absolutely outraged by this,” one member told The Post.
The Harvard Club stood by the firings in a statement: “The Harvard Club of NY expects its employees and members to follow the rules and guidelines outlined in the club’s code of conduct and rules and policies. Violation of those policies can result in termination.”
Indeed, a club member also had his membership revoked earlier this year for violations tied to the firing of at least one of the bartenders, a person close to the club said.
The complaints come as the club undergoes several extensive capital improvement projects, including a new rooftop terrace and restaurant, which has led some members to question whether the cuts are financially motivated.
“There’s a perception that they’re firing the guys who have been there the longest and who get paid the most,” another member said.
Staffers have echoed those concerns. “For any little thing they try to fire you,” one staffer said. “To me, the way I look at it, they are trying to get rid of all of the older employees.”
Operating revenue rose to $23.7 million in the fiscal year ended June 2013, compared to $22.8 million from the prior year, according to the club’s annual report. Membership fees also rose to $11.2 million.
Still, the club, which operates independently of the university, lost $109,102 for the year as payroll, administrative costs, and food and beverage costs climbed.
In an annual report to members, Harvard Club President Andreas Beroutsos applauded the club’s general manager, Herbert Pliessnig, for being “keenly focused on cost management.”
Two bartenders were let go earlier this year for supposed infractions that included handing out free drinks, sources said. One of them, Paul Nikac, was quoted in the New York Times several years ago openly greeting the club’s former president, Nicole Parent, with comped drinks for her guests.
The second bartender, Norman Morales, 58, said he started working at the club when he was just 15 years old. After firing him for charges that he said included free drinks, the club offered him a return to his job part-time, which he refused.
“I don’t want to go back in there the way they treat me. They treated me like a criminal after 50 years,” he said in a phone interview.