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…

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….

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…