In our last bargaining sessions, we notified the Harvard Administration of our intent to strike on November 10th 2026 if we do not resolve negotiations, and presented them with a comprehensive package that we believe is fair and reasonable to get us to a swift conclusion prior to that deadline.
Summary of bargaining session #51
Management Proposal
A few days after announcing extraordinary financial results and an $11,000,000,000 rise in Harvard’s endowment value, the Corporation, ignoring all financial realities, offered us a barely updated 3.5% first year salary raise. They also proposed a higher salary minimum ($87K) with wage compression adjustments for specialist postdocs and senior postdocs (which will be our new title for those with PhDs currently called research associates). Admin made a few very small steps in Relocations and Parking and Transit. And they told us that they are hiring an external consultant to reconsider parental leave policy, expecting a report in the Spring, rather than bargaining with us over expanding parental leave in our Paid Leave article.
The Corporation continues to reject our demands for protection from workplace harassment, improved parental leave and childcare assistance, retirement benefits for all, visa travel reimbursement, and the rights for a strong and inclusive union. You can see all their proposals here. They also refuse to guarantee the availability of J1-compatible options within the University’s health plan options, potentially forcing non-citizen workers to rely on more expensive options on the open market if the University changes its health care plans in the future.
This is of course unacceptable for the vast majority of our workers. It is now clear that the only way to win all this is the threat of a strong strike.
Stipendees
Whereas most other academic workers unions have won inclusion of at least some categories of stipendees (workers receiving a stipend from internal or external funding sources), Harvard keeps on insisting that all stipendees do not deserve union protection, improved benefits and fair wages, even as their salaried colleagues, doing similar work, do.
In order to win stipendee inclusion at the table, HAW’s bargaining team needs support for stipendee postdocs, other postdocs and all members: sign the petition for stipendee inclusion.
Response from the Union’s bargaining team
In a show of our seriousness to settle a contract and avoid a strike, we presented a complete package of all outstanding articles. There is nothing preventing Admin from accepting this package as a whole right now.
The most important points in this package:
In Compensation:
- We moved to a 12% first year raise and minima raise for most workers, except for: 15% first year raise for career researchers (core scientists, and the research scientist track); pay parity between all postdocs with a 12% first year raise and a 10% raise to the minimum (above HMS previous minimum).
- We moved our yearly cost of living raise demand to 3.25%.
- We dropped our demand for steps for all jobs except for postdocs, where we kept existing steps, but we are now seeking an additional 1% raise on top of COLA adjustments to honor longevity for all other jobs.
On job security for postdocs: we withdraw our demands for a layoff-proof 1 year appointment in exchange for extended notification period of 4 months for layoff in case of cessation of funding and for non-reappointment.
In benefits: we maintained our demands for better parental support in Family Benefits and Paid Leave, and for Retirement for all
You can see all of our articles here.
Besides this, we delivered a letter signed by many Wyss workers raising concerns about their possible exclusion from HAW. They have been included since the inception of our Union, but Admin recently hinted that they may want to exclude them. We also pressed them on more meetings to settle stipendee inclusions.
Strike Details
If the administration does not offer us an acceptable contract proposal prior to our deadline, we will be going on strike on November 10th. This is not a decision to be taken lightly. We have made it clear that our to priorities are:
- Fair wages for all, with a significant raise for the first year, and raises the following years to keep up with inflation
- The benefits we need: such as better childcare support and retirement.
- Harassment and discrimination protections that enforces efficient and effective solutions for workers facing harassment, bullying and discrimination at work.
- Union security provisions, so our Union can do its job: helping workers who need it
- Inclusion of all of us who teach or do research at Harvard, ensuring that workers have access to the rights and benefits of our union, even as management tries to make arbitrary exclusions to shrink our unit.
- A real end to time caps with a fair implementation plan and protection of status quo workloads.
These are not our only demands, but the most important ones. We are ready to negotiate, but we can not settle without progress on these core demands. The Corporation and the Union have been able to compromise on a lot of issues, including the new lecturer ladder and pay parity for postdocs. We have made significant effort towards a compromise but it is clear that escalation is required to win us what we need and deserve. Here’s how you can help:
Call to action
The Bargaining Committee alone will not win a strong contract, we all need to show our collective power to Harvard. The help us all winning a fair contract soon, you can:
– Sign up for picket shifts for the week of November 10th and to make a plan with your coworkers to do the same.
– Talk to your coworkers about their strike plan: have they signed up for picket shifts? Can they attend a strike school with you?
– Sign and share the stipendee petition to tell Harvard that they can’t arbitrarily carve workers out of our union based on their funding source (see more below about stipendees). If you are stipendee, or if you are unsure, take this survey.
– Contribute a brief testimonial about why you want to win a fair contract.
– Respond to this email to connect with a local organizer and find out more ways to help!
– Come and watch our next bargaining session on Friday 10/30 at 10:30am, in person in Harvard Square (it’s better), or on zoom, register here if you haven’t already.
Questions about our possible strike?
We understand that you likely have questions about what a strike will look like or require from you; we encourage you to review our Strike FAQ and add one of the following strike schools to your calendar:
- Longwood: Wednesday 10/28 5pm, NRB 1031
- Cambridge: Monday 11/2 5:15pm, Northwest Building 243
- Zoom: Thursday 10/29 4:30pm