Harvard grad workers end 40-day strike without contract

After 40 days on the picket line, members of the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers voted to suspend their longest strike to date Monday without securing a new contract. The union said Harvard signaled new willingness during a bargaining sessio

When Harvard graduate student workers returned to the bargaining table Monday, they did it without a contract in hand—after 40 days of picketing that the union called the longest in its history.

The Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers (HGSU-UAW). which represents more than 4. 000 student workers across Harvard University’s 13 schools. voted to suspend the strike. union leaders said in a press release. The decision came after what the union described as a shift in Harvard’s posture during Friday’s bargaining session.

HGSU-UAW President Denish Jaswal said the university “signaled willingness” to discuss several issues the union has demanded be addressed. including pay parity between teaching fellows and research assistants. protections for non-citizen workers. and anti-discrimination provisions. Jaswal told Boston.com that the way Harvard engaged at the table during that session offered “a sign of hope that perhaps there’s movement to be made with the university.”.

The union’s case is rooted in a prolonged contract fight. It said it has spent the past 14 months negotiating with Harvard for a new agreement.

During that time, Harvard expanded benefits to graduate students, offered full dental coverage for Ph.D. students, and increased its proposed four-year wage package by 1 percent, according to the union’s press release. But the union argued those changes still did not meet its core demands.

“While these proposals fall far short of the union’s demands for a living wage and do not address workplace protections. like grievability of harassment and discrimination or non-citizen protections. they were the first indication of engagement from the university on the union’s priorities. ” the press release said.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume June 9 and June 23, Jaswal said.

In a letter to faculty Monday, Harvard Deputy Provost Jessica Soban and Managing Director of Labor and Employee Relations Paul Curran wrote that the university has met with the union 28 times and remains committed to “bargaining in good faith.”

Soban and Curran pointed to Harvard’s latest compensation proposal. which includes a 2.75 percent raise upon ratification of a contract and an additional 3.25 percent increase on July 1 for salaried student workers. They also said Harvard has extended benefits previously reserved for full-time staff to part-time student workers. including access to a legal services plan.

“Our student workers have a vital role in advancing Harvard’s teaching and research mission, and we remain committed to reaching an agreement that recognizes their contributions to our pursuit of academic excellence,” the letter said in part.

Across Cambridge and Longwood during the strike, union members maintained picket lines at Harvard campuses. The union said workers disrupted more than 200 shipments, creating supply shortages in some research laboratories.

“Research laboratories ground to a halt, course material was left untaught, and assignments went ungraded,” the union said in its press release.

The strike also spilled into city and public life. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu withdrew from a scheduled Harvard Law School speaking engagement Wednesday after attempts to find an alternative arrangement that would allow her to avoid crossing a picket line of striking graduate workers proved unsuccessful.

For Jaswal, the outcome on Monday wasn’t the end of the fight. She described the 40-day strike as both exhausting and empowering for participants.

“It took thousands of our members, pouring a lot of their hearts, souls, time, energy into it,” she said. “While it was physically exhausting [and] emotionally exhausting, it was also very strengthening and empowering.”

Even with disruptions and fatigue, Jaswal said the experience strengthened solidarity among workers—and left many energized for what comes next.

“There was hundreds and hundreds of workers out every day. sometimes thousands of workers out every day. and we meet each other and realize we all care enough to be out here with one another and actually fight for a better world. ” Jaswal said. “Sure we’re tired, but I think we’re also empowered, energized, and ready to keep the fight up.”.

Harvard graduate student workers strike HGSU-UAW United Auto Workers Denish Jaswal labor negotiations non-citizen protections pay parity anti-discrimination