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 to attend in person. If you would like to attend on Zoom, please fill out this form. If you can’t make it, you can still support the negotiations by wearing your button to work!
We began this session by asking for clarification about which workers the Corporation is trying to exclude from our bargaining unit and the protections we are all fighting for by classifying them “stipendees.” We believe that if you work at Harvard, the funding source and method of payment should not matter—you deserve the rights and protections of our contract.
We then presented three counter proposals: Access Needs, Health and Safety, and Layoffs. The Corporation countered on Evaluations, Employment Records, and Access to Services and Workspace.
We are getting closer to an agreement on Access Needs. A sticking point is whether employees in our unit should be entitled to provisional accommodations while they await official medical documentation. We think that it’s in both the Corporation’s and the workers’ best interests to grant necessary accommodations as soon as possible, to enable our colleagues to do their best work. We are also moving closer on Health and Safety. Although we acknowledge that there are risks inherent to certain jobs, we maintain that the contract should prohibit the Corporation from compelling workers to take unnecessary risks for which they have no safety training or equipment. In the exceedingly rare situation of workplace violence, we continue to propose that workers must receive extended no-cost mental health care, and that current benefits would not adequately address the needs arising from such trauma.
In our first counter on the Corporation’s new Layoffs proposal, we remain far apart. We disagree on the meaning of a layoff, on what kinds of workers are covered by Layoff provisions, and on the responsibility the Corporation has to a worker who is laid off. From our perspective, a worker should not be denied severance and other layoff benefits just because they’re classified as an “academic” appointee instead of “staff.” Moreover, we hold that a worker whose appointment is not renewed has been laid off, unless they have been fired for just cause. In cases where a layoff is attributed to funding issues, we want the Corporation to demonstrate that the funding really isn’t there—the Corporation’s bargaining team suggested that there could be layoffs for the reason of “just saving money.” (That’s why they are the Corporation and we are the University!) Finally, if someone is laid off, we think that they should be entitled to a meaningful severance package after uprooting their lives to come here, and preference in hiring for similar positions at Harvard.
In their Evaluations counterproposal, we had a back-and-forth about the role of outlier student comments, which we had proposed should be excluded from consideration for purposes of discipline or reappointment. The Corporation argued that some outlier comments may need to trigger an inquiry, repeatedly making the case for our initial language—that information from anonymous student evaluations must be corroborated by other means—despite the fact that they they continue to reject it! Most importantly, though, the Corporation continues to reject our language about the enforceability of this article—they seek broad exceptions from the Grievance and Arbitration process that we cannot accept. Similarly, the Corporation is refusing crucial union protections in their Employment Records counterproposal, making it harder for the union to ensure an equitable work environment and to investigate allegations of discrimination.
In Access to Services and Workspace, the Corporation continues to reject our proposal for extended email access (90 days instead of 30 days after last day worked) despite how important this is for both workers and our students and colleagues. They have proposed instead an improbably complex process whereby some workers might be able to “freeze” their Harvard email accounts, reading and receiving mail forwarding but unable to send any new emails from their address. Even they admit that this is overly complicated and administratively burdensome. But we do have a real win here: All HAW workers will be able to receive extended access to Harvard libraries for a full year at no cost!
We are hard at work on responses and on newer articles all through the summer. Your support is what powers this process of making Harvard better for all of us. See you on July 14th!
In solidarity,
HAW-UAW Bargaining Committee