All Bargaining Updates
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Bargaining update: some very good and a pile of of bad
TLDR: Friday we saw some very positive movement from Admin, especially on Workloads. However, Admin is still not budging on some core issues for teaching faculty, and they also completely refused to engage with us about their decision to keep our salaries frozen. Finally, we proposed counters for better severance rules; reimbursement of visa costs; and leave provisions…
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Harvard is choosing to not give HAW members a raise now, falsely blaming union contract negotiations
Harvard has announced the end of the salary freeze, however, some HAW members have reported that they have been told that they will not be given raises due to our ongoing contract negotiations prohibiting “unilateral” changes in our compensation. To be clear, it is categorically false that Harvard is required to freeze our wages during bargaining. HAW wants…
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Bargaining Update #41: Workers with families need support to do their best work!
On Monday the 22nd, we had our 41st (!) bargaining session and received one counterproposal from management. tl;dr – After testimonials from two of our members, we presented articles that address childcare, professional development, and workloads. We remain committed to protecting our members’ abilities to start families, better themselves, and work with dignity. In response, Management returned…
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Bargaining Update: Harvard’s compensation proposal: An unacceptable offer
At bargaining today, Harvard Admin offered us a pay package that doesn’t even keep up with inflation, including: If you haven’t voted in the strike authorization vote, please do! The more of us who show we are going to stand together, the more we show them we want a contract that addresses our concerns. We need to put pressure…
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Testimony from JC, and outgoing Preceptor in East Asian Languages and Civilizations
My name is JC, and I’m a Preceptor in Chinese in the department of east Asian languages and civilizations. The motivation for me to get involved in this union 5 years ago was simple: to have a more stable job, as we all deserve, and to live a fuller, more dignified life. By “dignified” I mean, not…
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Testimonial from outgoing Science Preceptor in FAS:
I have the same concerns as Jules and can contribute some perspective on the experience of STEM students. I teach as a lecturer in Physical Sciences 12A, in 15 series physics labs. As a result, I work with a broad segment of the STEM student population including physics concentrators, engineers, chemists, and pre-med students. In the last…
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Testimony from J.R., outgoing Lecturer in FAS:
Last week, in the basement of the Barker Center, a group of students gathered to mourn the death of a program that Sara Feldman built, that I have helped to build, and that those same students have helped to build. Every single one of them spoke movingly about the impact that NTTF have made on them, impact…
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Pressure Works. Let’s Keep it up! (Bargaining Updates #34–37)
tl;dr: In four bargaining sessions over the past three weeks, admin has made their most significant concessions in over a year. But it’s not near enough—we must keep pushing. Our Strike Authorization Vote remains open. If you haven’t yet voted, go vote now! As always, if you have any questions about what’s going on, please email us.…
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Harvard Faculty Union Files Federal Labor Charge Against University Administration
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 29, 2026PRESS CONTACT: Dr. J. Gregory Given Harvard Faculty Union Files Federal Labor Charge Against University Administration The charge, which comes as the Harvard Academic Workers (HAW-UAW) negotiates their first contract, alleges an illegal, unilateral increase of 50% to the workloads of teachers in the College’s Expository Writing Program. CAMBRIDGE, MA – Harvard…
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Let’s Get Paid What We’re Worth (Bargaining Update #32–33)
Remember to Participate in the Strike Authorization Vote! On Tuesday we had a particularly important bargaining session. We presented our Economic Package with 15 articles laying out our vision for the salaries and other economic benefits that we know are both necessary and long overdue. While there are significant outstanding non-economic issues that affect how our economic proposals will…
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Strike Authorization Vote Starting 3/27
TLDR: Voting to authorize a strike opens on March 27th. Attend Cambridge and Longwood area town halls next week to learn more and make a plan to win a fair contract! Last fall, we delivered our Contract Now petition to Harvard administration insisting they bargain a fair contract, and we followed that up at the beginning of this…
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Bargaining Update #31 Non-Citizen Rights
Bargaining Update #31 Non-Citizen Rights HAW made it out to the ends of the Earth in Antarctica. And Tuesday our 31st bargaining session continued! Management has made it clear: we need to escalate. We saw incremental improvements in their Promotions article; however, we remain at odds over foundational issues of unit inclusion and job classifications. We are also still…
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HAW-UAW Bargaining Update — Feb 3rd & 19th
Here’s a brief update on our last two sessions where we have gained ground on articles in response to our packaged proposals. We have used these packages to accelerate our bargaining as we head into a key moment in negotiations. In our most recent session on the 19th, management responded to our package on Layoffs, Appointment and Reappointment, Appointment Security,…
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Bargaining Update 1/23: Little Movement
Our last bargaining session underscored for the Bargaining Committee (BC) that we don’t have much of a partner across the table. Despite us having spent dozens of hours patiently explaining to the representatives of the Harvard Corporation the very real problems our workers face, the admin team continues to ignore our arguments and put the same bad…
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Bargaining Updates from Dec / Next Session on Fri!
Welcome back! A lot has happened in the past few weeks. We write with updates from two bargaining sessions in December and a plea to help us track the administration’s plans to reduce NTT teaching positions for next year. But first, a reminder: Our next bargaining session is tomorrow Friday, January 23, from 2–3 PM. Please come observe…
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J-1 Compliant Deductible
Happy Holidays from Harvard Academic Workers Bargaining Committee! We are writing with a surprise gift, a reduced deductible for most of our workers. This year after Open Enrollment, a worker brought to our attention that 3 of the 4 health insurance plans would not meet the requirements for J-1 Visas starting January 1st, 2026 (even though they…
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HAW-UAW Bargaining Update: One agreement, a lot of frustration
TLDR: 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…
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A majority of us demand a contract now!
Show up on November 6 to win a strong contract! Sign up here to deliver the petition and attend bargaining! A majority of HAW-UAW has signed onto our demand for a fair contract now! Well over 1000 postdocs, lecturers, and researchers are joining together to tell Harvard management to stop stalling our negotiations and agree to a contract that…
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Black lives matter and we should be free to say it
The Harvard administration recently forced the removal of a prominent Black Lives Matter sign which had been displayed on campus since 2020. We believe that now, as in 2013 or 2020, it is necessary to protest the systemic violence oppressing Black people in America. As this is what this BLM sign stood for, this is what we want to stand…
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HAW-UAW Bargaining Updates 9/18 and 10/2
We want to summarize first the insulting way the administration approached our last two sessions. Full details follow below. On 9/18, Admin doubled down on their position that researchers paid via stipends “do not work for Harvard and thus should not be included in the union,” as their lawyer explained. This position ignores industry standards (stipendees are included in…
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Reminder: Come join bargaining for our union contract on 9/18 @ 2PM!
TLDR: We hope to see you at bargaining on 9/18 at 2 PM and join us in our call for a union contract today! Josh, This Thursday, September 18th from 2–5 PM, we have another bargaining session for our union contract with the Harvard administration. For this session, we are presenting a number of counterproposals, but we will be focusing in…
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HAW-UAW Contract Negotiations Update – August 18, 2025
As we approach the one-year mark of this bargaining process, the Administration is moving slow because they think they can get away with it. Administration is dragging their feet on crucial proposals like Discrimination and Harassment (since Feb. 24), Non-Citizen Workers’ Rights (since Mar. 23), and Academic Freedom (since June 2). In our most recent bargaining session this past…
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Bargaining Update: We are not disposable
While HAW has been fighting for job security for members of our unit, management ended Monday’s session by saying that academic appointees should not assume their appointments at Harvard will be renewed even if they are good at their jobs. Admin’s lawyer acknowledged that this treats us as disposable labor, rather than crucial scholars and educators at this…
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Higher Ed and Harvard under attack—we fight back!
We’ll keep it brief—we know the news is full of attacks on higher education in general and Harvard in particular right now. It’s more important than ever that we work together to fight back and protect one another. Below, see four action items—most of them should take no more than 2–3 minutes. These items need your attention…
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Continuing the fight for our funding and job security
Adam here from the Harvard Academic Workers-UAW Bargaining Committee. On Monday, I attended the hearing of the cases challenging federal funding cuts at Harvard, including AAUP and UAW vs the US Government, which is fighting these cuts on behalf of workers and researchers at Harvard and includes several HAW-UAW members’ stories in support of our case. Afterwards Kelsey, a…
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Harvard Workers Stand Together
In collaboration with the other campus unions (HGSU, HUWU, HUCTW, SEIU 32BJ, UNITE HERE Local 26), we recently sent the following statement to Harvard leadership. We believe there is much leadership could be doing to protect the University and we stand united in holding them accountable to the University’s own ideals. In solidarity, The HAW-UAW Organizing Committee…
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Bargaining Update — July 14, 2025
We have some updates from Monday’s bargaining. While we are making progress, we see management putting in some heinous provisions in their counters. If you haven’t yet signed our Contract Now Petition, please do so now to show that you care about our fair contract. Management will keep adding poison pills unless they see people care. Management Counters: Our…
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Bargaining Update — June 30, 2025
Monday, June 30th was our 18th bargaining session. Thank you to everyone who attended online and in person! This kind of involvement shows the administration that we are committed to improving protections for all of us, especially in these times. Come join us at the next session on July 14th at 2PM! Contact hawuawbc@gmail.com if you’d like…
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Bargaining Update — June 16, 2025
Our bargaining committee met with the representatives of the Harvard Corporation on Monday (6/16) to continue our contract negotiations. Here’s what went down: Immediate Concerns: Appointment Lengths and Funding Issues We opened by raising serious concerns about the Corporation suddenly shortening some researcher reappointments from 12 months to just 3 or 4 months in HMS and FAS.…
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Bargaining Update — June 2, 2025
Allie Stanton here—I’m a postdoc in the Department of Microbiology and an organizer with Harvard Academic Workers. I’m writing to share some updates from our last bargaining session, which took place on Monday, June 2nd. After wrapping up a meeting with a student and some data analysis in my office at HMS on Monday morning, I hopped…
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Bargaining Update – May 19, 2025
The administration brought five responses to our proposals and two brand-new proposals, and they rejected four of our proposals altogether. Those rejected articles are: Academic Freedom, Artificial Intelligence, Departmental Representation, and Protecting Disciplinary Vitality. At a time when academic freedom is under unprecedented assault, the administration won’t even talk to us about it, because, they say, Harvard…
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Bargaining Update – April 23, 2025
We began our bargaining session on Wednesday, April 23, by pressing the administration on what they are doing to protect the research and teaching mission at this time of crisis and attacks by the Trump administration. The administration did not offer any specifics, saying that the general economic situation facing Harvard is too uncertain to share any…
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Bargaining Update – April 11, 2025
On Friday afternoon we held our thirteenth bargaining session with the University administration. Here is an overview of the significant tentative agreement we reached and the other proposals that changed hands. We began the session asking the administration why we are hearing that our colleagues in various departments are not receiving expected raises upon reappointment. They agreed…
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Bargaining Update – March 24, 2025
On Monday, we held our twelfth bargaining session with the University administration. Unfortunately, they returned only two counter-proposals, despite the fact that we await responses on over twenty proposed articles. Here is a rundown of the five proposals that changed hands, and the one tentative agreement reached: We began the session by signing a tentative agreement on…
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Bargaining Update – March 6, 2025
This past Thursday, we held our eleventh bargaining session with the administration. See below for a rundown of the proposals that changed hands. First, the day before the bargaining session, the administration communicated via email that, despite the broad support for ending time caps evinced by our petition and student walkout, they have for a second time formally rejected our…
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HAW-UAW Contract Negotiations Update – Feb 06, 2025
Yesterday, we had an exciting and busy session, with 13 articles changing hands. From our side: From the administration: As always we invite you to RSVP to attend bargaining in-person or virtually for the February 24th or March 6th meetings. Show support by wearing a Button on Bargaining days (And let us know if you still need a button!). Appointments and Reappointments…
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Organizing to Save NIH Funding for Researchers
Last week, President Trump’s Executive Branch placed the National Institutes of Health under an unprecedented set of restrictions, including a communications blackout, a cut on diversity-based initiatives, and a cancellation of grant review panels. In collaboration with Fair Research Careers Now, HAW is taking immediate action by organizing to call our congressional representatives on Thursday, January 30, 3 PM –…
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Harvard cancelled our meeting – we’re wearing buttons anyway!
Harvard cancelled our meeting – we’re wearing buttons anyway! Unfortunately, the administration has cancelled tomorrow’s scheduled bargaining session due to “unforeseen circumstances.” While we don’t know the reason, we do know that every delay in bargaining benefits the employer, and that we’re still waiting on responses on more than a dozen proposals. To keep up the pressure…
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HAW-UAW Contract Negotiations Update – Dec 20, 2024
This past Monday we had our last bargaining session of 2024 and it was a memorable one. We had the pleasure of being joined by many observers and speakers. We are starting with thoughts from one observer, Lisa Gulesserian, Preceptor in Armenian Language and Culture in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department. Our bargaining update follows…
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HAW-UAW Rank & File Report and Bargaining Update 12/16
HAW-UAW Rank & File Report and Bargaining Update 12/16 Dear colleagues, This past Monday we had our last bargaining session of 2024 and it was a memorable one. We had the pleasure of being joined by many observers and speakers. We are starting with thoughts from one observer, Lisa Gulesserian, Preceptor in Armenian Language and Culture in…