We have 10 days until our strike deadline, and 6 days until our next bargaining session. Hundreds of workers have already signed up for picket shifts and our bargaining team has made efforts to resolve minor outstanding issues and force admin to focus on our core demands. On Friday we saw some results from that pressure, as Admin moved on several significant job security demands and we reached near-final agreement on 8 articles. But on the rest of our core issues—fair compensation, functional family benefits, workload protections, real recourse against harassment and discrimination, inclusion of all workers and rights to a strong union—the Corporation is still not budging.
It is clear that we’re building pressure with our strike threat that is motivating admin to move, but it is not yet enough to win our core demands! We need your help to show Harvard that we’re ready to strike on 11/10. The end of our contract campaign is finally in sight, now is the time to act collectively to close the contract we deserve. Sign up for a picket shift now, and tell your colleagues to do the same. To help organize, reply to this email. Our next session on Friday 11/6 will be crucial, come observe or tune in (register here).
Summary of Admin counters
We can report very positive progress in some job security articles, but the Harvard Corporation is still not responding to our core demands.
After major movement from Admin, we have reached near-agreement on a package of 4 articles: Appointments & Reappointments, Layoffs, Appointment Security & Notification, and Discipline & Dismissal. After many months of little movement, admin has finally agreed to the following:
- Researchers on a 1 year appointment (mostly postdocs) may only be laid off if their funding ceases. In such circumstances, they would receive 4 months’ notice or pay in lieu of notice.
- Researchers who are not reappointed will receive 4 months’ notice or pay in lieu of notice.
- Teachers on 1-year appointments cannot be laid off; those on multi-year appointments would receive a 6-months notice of layoff or pay in lieu of notice.
- Teachers on 5-year contracts will receive 9 months’ notice of non-reappointment.
These notification times for reappointments are much better than status quo and provide workers with more time to find a new job, if necessary.
We have also reached tentative agreements on: Relocation, Professional Standing, Academic Promotions, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness* (pending the insertion of an email address).
In the crucial Implementation article, which describes how workers will be moved into new unit positions, Admin has accepted our scheme for transition of existing preceptors and lecturers into the new lecturer positions: Instead of applying for new positions on the lecturer ladder, current preceptors and lecturers will be considered for reappointment into this ladder at the end of their current appointments. We continue to push for a clear and reasonable timeline for these reappointments, but we are otherwise near final agreement.
In Titles and Classifications we still have some disagreement around the CPM and director positions, and we are still standing by the inclusion of stipendees in the Union. In Workloads, Admin continues to still refuse past practice provisions to protect against the assignment of too much new service work to teachers.
However, Admin’s economic proposal was much more disappointing: The only change from their past position was to offer workers a one-time bonus upon ratification equivalent to 1% of their salary, in addition to their offer of a 3.5% initial raise. It goes without saying that this pittance does almost nothing to help workers catch up from two years of frozen wages and high inflation—and it’s all the more offensive when we know that, with the endowment up 27% this past year, Harvard has never had more resources at its disposal.
Clearly the Corporation is feeling some urgency from our strike pressure. They moved Friday on a raft of non-economic issues on which they had held for months. But if we want to see progress on compensation and our other core demands, we need to ramp up the pressure until our strike deadline on 11/10.
HAW’s Presentation:
In addition to presenting a few counterproposals proposing small tweaks to the articles discussed above, we raised the issue of the Corporation’s continued refusal to include stipendee researchers in the bargaining unit. We presented our arguments that ignoring stipendees is actually bad for PIs and the broader University, and practically will make many provisions in our articles confusing and cumbersome to implement. We will keep you updated on developments on this issue. We think workers deserve better wages, benefits and protections no matter the source of their funding. If you are stipendee or want to support stipendee inclusion, sign our petition! If you are not sure of your status (it is confusing) complete our stipendee survey.
In solidarity,
The FAS/HMS/HDS HAW-UAW Bargaining Committee