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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
