Yesterday we had our fourth bargaining session and one of our most important sessions yet, as we presented articles articulating our vision for fair and equitable contracts, pathways to promotion, and an end to arbitrary term limits for our workers.

Our Appointments and Reappointments article laid out a system of renewable appointments for teachers and researchers, without arbitrary limits. In our proposal, most appointees would receive an initial 3-year contract, followed by renewable 5-year contracts. In the event of non-reappointment due to a legitimate lack of budgetary support or institutional need, we ensured our members would not be left out in the cold: under our proposal, workers are entitled to timely notification of such non-reappointment, severance, and preferential treatment for similar job openings (including tenure-track) in the immediate future.

In tandem with this article, we presented our new framework for Titles and Classifications. This article lays out the range of jobs in our unit, simplifying the inconsistent and often arbitrary differences in titling across positions and ensuring that our unit members are granted titles that are both appropriate to the critical work they perform for the university and legible to the professions beyond Harvard. Crucially, this article also establishes fair paths to promotion for Postdoctoral Researchers, Research Scientists, Teaching Faculty, and Technical Staff positions.  

We also presented an article on Workplace Representation, which guarantees our members a seat at the table for important decision-making processes at the departmental/academic unit level, as well as on FAS, HMS, HDS, and university-wide committees.

Finally, our article on Principal Investigator Rights proposes a broad expansion of these rights on an opt-in basis, addressing the need for our members to be appropriately acknowledged for the central role they already play in much of Harvard’s research and grant writing.

Following upon the previous bargaining session, we passed back a counterproposal on Grievance and Arbitration. We pushed back on the administration’s attempt to significantly limit the time we have to pursue a grievance. Although we agree that it is in everybody’s interest that a grievance be resolved in a timely manner, we pointed out that our workers must not be denied their right to pursue a grievance due to delays brought on by exceptional circumstances.

The administration did not present any new proposals of their own, but they did return counter proposals on Employment Records and Discipline and Dismissal. A clear disagreement emerged over whether non-renewal of appointments should be seen as a form of dismissal. The Union and administration have already agreed that workers should only be dismissed during the term of an appointment for just cause. In our view, the same standard should hold for reappointment—that is, workers who are performing well in their jobs should be able to continue working at Harvard. The administration protested that applying such a standard to reappointment would be “overly burdensome”—that is, they want to protect their right to quietly fire a worker through non-reappointment for any reason. We made it clear to the administration that we will be fighting to ensure that our colleagues receive the transparent performance standards and job security that we all deserve.

Our next bargaining session is on Friday, November 15th, from 1–4 pm. You can RSVP here to listen in via Zoom or join our Discord to follow along in the #bargaining-observers thread.

In solidarity,

HAW-UAW Bargaining Committee