Harvard Proposes Yearlong Wage Freeze to Custodians Amid Financial Headwinds

Harvard proposed freezing custodian wages for the next year in a contract proposal to their union on Thursday, opting to try cutting labor costs across worker groups as it navigates financial uncertainty.

The Service Employees International Union’s 32BJ represents roughly 800 custodial workers at Harvard and has been bargaining with Harvard for a month. Thursday’s compensation proposal marks Harvard’s first offer to the union as its contract nears expiration on Nov. 15.

Harvard also presented a wage freeze to its non-tenure-track faculty union last month, though faculty were not offered the one-year contract option.

32BJ Executive Vice President Kevin Brown said Harvard offered two compensation packages to the union, both stipulating yearlong wage freezes starting in July 2026. The first proposed a three-year contract with a small bonus in the first year, followed by 2 percent wage increases in subsequent years. The second offered a one-year contract with a larger bonus, tabling future raises for another contract in hopes of riding out the University’s financial precarity. Brown declined to comment on the size of the bonuses offered.

Brown said the union would not be accepting either proposal. Inflation has hovered around 3 percent since 2023, and the union has advocated for wage increases that keep up with current rates and compensate for pandemic-era inflation — which 2 percent increases would not cover.

Custodial workers received their last raise in July, according to union spokesperson Franklin Soults.

“Over the past 14 years, we’ve only gotten one nickel on average a year wage increase over cost of living,” Brown said. “How are people supposed to get ahead on that? And that’s Harvard’s own data.”

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on average wage increases for custodians.

Harvard is currently facing the combined weight of a hefty endowment tax hike and uncertainty over future federal funding. The new 8 percent endowment tax alone, signed into law in July, is projected to cost the University up to $300 million every year.

Harvard has already laid off staff, cut back on Ph.D. admissions, and slashed research spending, citing ongoing financial pressures.

Newton wrote in a statement that custodians “are valued members of our community who enable teaching and research in critical ways.”

“In light of current financial challenges and ongoing uncertainty around our financial picture, the University offered custodial employees distinct choices in how we approach compensation agreements: a short-term contract extension combined with a bonus, or a longer term extension that includes a combination of bonuses and modest, market-oriented wage increases that are guaranteed in future years,” Newton wrote.

The University also rejected a proposal from 32BJ for a “healthcare holiday,” which would allow workers to receive a portion of healthcare funds directly from Harvard rather than through the union’s health fund. According to Brown, Harvard called the payout structure illegal — but Brown said it has been implemented for hundreds of thousands of workers represented by 32BJ.

Newton declined to comment on Harvard’s response to the union’s healthcare proposal.

Harvard has not yet responded to the union’s request for a joint union-employer legal fund for immigration issues or extended paid leave.

“We are essential to this University,” custodian Sammy Perez said at the rally, in remarks translated by union spokesperson Franklin Soults.

At the rally, which was held in Cambridge Common, recently reelected Cambridge City Council member Jivan G. Sobrinho-Wheeler also called on the University to support its custodial staff or face a loss of support from the City.

“If Harvard wants Cambridge residents to stand with it, Harvard needs to have the backs of its workers,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said.

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at hugo.chiasson@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at amann.mahajan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.