TLDR:
- Management is falsely categorizing some colleagues as supervisors to exclude them from our union—let us know if this happens to you!
- We have a TA (tentative agreement) on Job Postings!
- The Corporation’s team did NOT have the Non-Citizen Workers’ Rights article ready.
- The Corporation only brought one counterproposal (that took over a year)—and they effectively crossed everything out..
- Cagey, self-contradictory responses to our concerns about who has union rights and about time caps.
See more details below. But first, a member report and Bingo!
Here’s what our colleague Elisa, who came to observe, said about the session:
“The administration appears to be purposely stalling the process, as its approach continues to impede meaningful progress toward the creation of a fair contract. The lead negotiators are employing a classic “good cop–bad cop” dynamic — one adopting a paternalistic and condescending tone, while the other plays the “bad cop” role convincingly with a sharp, almost reprimanding tone. During the discussion of one article, the administrative response consisted primarily of striking out existing language, a process that took less than a minute. The remaining members of the administrative team stayed largely silent, seemingly reluctant to speak or diverge from the stance set by the lead lawyer.
The bargaining committee continues to maintain composure despite difficult communication dynamics and an undeniable imbalance of power.”
Being treated this way is frustrating, but it did help bargaining observers fill out their Bingo cards.
If you missed this session, you can play along on December 8th!
Petition Delivery
A majority of our members signed our Contract Now petition and dozens marched to deliver it on both campuses– at Longwood, to HMS Dean George Q. Daley and in Cambridge, to President Garber. Coming together in this way is crucial for winning a strong contract when the administration is stalling! The march concluded at our bargaining session, where Organizing Committee member Kelsey introduced the petition with a powerful opening statement about how we are trying to make things better at Harvard, and we need change now; we are the University. The Corporation’s bargaining team responded with a bland recognition of “the passion that you all have” and an insistence that they are not stalling, because they meet with us on a regular schedule. Our statistical analysis of the time spent reviewing proposals from each side, however, tells another story. Get a load of these violins:
If our all-volunteer team can turn around the vast majority of proposals in 60 days or less, why can’t the administrators?
Time Caps, Hiring Freeze, Risks
We then questioned the Corporation’s team on their fresh refusal to sign a Memorandum of Agreement which would pause time caps on teaching faculty during the current hiring freeze. At our previous session, the Corporation had insisted that the FAS administration carefully considered the effective cuts to specific academic programs resulting from the joint effects of the time caps and the hiring freeze (that is, faculty timing out who can’t be replaced). This time, they denied that such de facto cuts represented purposeful academic policy, but did warn us that layoffs are happening across Harvard and will continue. They offered neither explanations how nor even assurances that Harvard would be able to continue fulfilling its educational mission while the time caps, the hiring freeze, and the dramatic reduction in PhD admissions decimate the FAS’s instructional capacity. We made it very clear to the administration that we will not accept any unilateral increases to our workload as a result of these disastrous policies.
Robbing Workers of their Right to Union Representation, Threatening us with Trump NLRB (National Labor Relations Board)
We pressed management on disturbing incidents reported to us by members who were laid off without union representation, and on the bigger picture of carving workers out of the unit to deprive them of union protections. Most of our discussion was about workers who the administration is unilaterally classifying as “supervisors,” a category of workers excluded from our contract. They threatened us with the prospect of bringing a dispute over supervisory status to the National Labor Relations Board under the Trump administration, which is not currently functional. Both sides of the table laughed out loud when a member of our team suggested that while it is possible that the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on Harvard might mean it would take our union’s side in such a dispute, we do not want to bet on this.
Has your PI, department chair, or supervisor told you that you are not in the union? Please report this incident! Email hawuawbc@gmail.com.
Discipline & Dismissal
We submitted a counterproposal reasserting our contention that non-reappointment must carry the same “just cause” protections as dismissal. We also reasserted our request that employees be notified by management of their right to union representation before any disciplinary meeting. The administration claimed that they cannot require all supervisors to do this, because it will be hard to train them to do so. We offered to collaborate with admin on such a training!
Job Posting
The Corporation agreed to sign our counterproposal! This article ensures that most jobs in our bargaining unit are publicly posted with key information about the position, and secures the right of the Union to acquire information about non-posted and formerly posted jobs to protect against discrimination, nepotism, and misuse of job classifications.
Non-Retaliation
We had proposed a Non-Retaliation article in October 2024 and never got a response. All the Corporation had prepared for this session was their counterproposal on this article. Their counterproposal is simply a version of ours, with everything but their legal obligations crossed out. They did no work to compromise or negotiate, but instead asked us to rely on federal protections which are increasingly tenuous. Taking 13 months to cross out a few paragraphs of text proves that despite all protests otherwise, they are stalling.
Non-Citizen Workers’ Rights
Admin had led us to believe in our previous bargaining session that they would have this crucial article ready for us in this session but now says they will present it at the next session. We’ll see.
What now?
We are a group of volunteers giving our time to make Harvard better for everyone and to save teaching and research from a Corporation that is cutting them while carving out our members from the unit. Across the table from us are the Corporation’s team members, who are paid for their work on this contract but are doing very little very slowly. Our strength lies in our numbers, and in all of us coming together to show the administration how much we care about our work and the conditions under which we do it. If you want job security, fair pay, and all the rights and protections we are fighting for, we need your help to win them!
- Attend the FAS town hall TOMORROW to understand and share your thoughts on the bargaining process. This is a great way to learn about where we are, ask questions, and give your input. Wednesday, November 12, 12:00 – 1:00 PM, Biolabs 1080.
- Attend the HMS Coffee Hour, every Wednesday 2:00 – 3:00 PM. Harvard Institutes of Medicine Room 860, 4 Blackfan St, Boston. Enter through the NRB and take the 8th floor skybridge.
- Support the fight for a contract by attending our next bargaining session on December 8. If this would be your first time: contact hawuawbc@gmail.com if you’d like to attend in person or register to attend on Zoom.
- Get involved and help us all win! If you aren’t connected with anyone who is volunteering, email harvardacademicworkers@gmail.com . There is a role for you to contribute your skills (meeting people, data, writing, graphic design, etc.) towards the issues you want to fight for. You can even join the bargaining committee!
- You can still sign the petition and a union card!
In Solidarity,
The FAS/HMS/HDS HAW Bargaining Committee