Labor
Harvard Grad Union Requests Academic Freedom Protections in New Contract Proposal
Harvard’s graduate student union requested that the University guarantee academic freedom protections for graduate students’ teaching and research pursuits in a new contract proposal on Thursday, joining a growing roster of graduate unions that have requested similar provisions in recent years.
‘Harder for All of Us’: Confusion Reigns After Harvard Excludes 900 Grad Students From Union
Harvard removed more than 900 students on research-based stipends from representation under its graduate student union in July. More than a month later, they’re still searching for clarity — and getting few answers.
Cambridge Education Association Calls for Halt to Superintendent Search
The union — which represents Cambridge Public Schools teachers, administrators, and staff — expressed outrage over a perceived lack of transparency and remarks made by one candidate who has since been eliminated from the search.
Harvard Custodians Withdraw Petition to Decertify Union
A Harvard custodian withdrew a petition to decertify the union representing University custodians last week, saying he hopes to gauge the union’s response before moving further in a campaign to replace it.
Campus Unions Ask Harvard To Pledge Worker Protections as Federal Cuts Prompt Layoffs
Harvard’s five largest campus unions urged the University to pledge to a suite of worker protections amid federal attacks in a Monday letter emailed to Harvard’s top officials.
Broad Institute Lays Off 75 Workers in Cost-Cutting Wave Amid Trump Funding Threats
The Broad Institute — a biomedical research center affiliated with Harvard and MIT — laid off 75 employees and slashed non-personnel expenses late last month in an effort to shore up its finances as the Trump administration continues to threaten federal funding for scientific research.
Harvard Removes 800 Students From Grad Union, Claiming They Are Not Employees
Harvard will remove more than 800 students on research-based stipends from its graduate student union, capitalizing on recent National Labor Relations Board rulings to deal a crushing blow to student labor organizing.
Harvard Grad Union Contract Expires With Months of Negotiations Still Ahead
Harvard’s graduate student union contract expired on Tuesday amid ongoing negotiations with the University for a new agreement.
Harvard Appeals Decision Requiring Inclusion of Psych Students in Grad Union for the Second Time
Harvard filed a second appeal on a ruling that it violated its graduate student union’s contract by excluding lab-based psychology Ph.D. students from the bargaining unit.
Harvard Custodians Seek To Decertify Their Union Ahead of Contract Negotiations
Harvard custodians will submit a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday to decertify their union — with plans to seek representation from a new union ahead of contract negotiations in the fall.
Grad Union To Ask Harvard To Require Non-Members To Pay Union Fees
Harvard’s graduate student union plans to present a proposal requiring all workers represented by the union to pay fees, even if they are not members — a long-held request that will come to the table in a Friday bargaining session with the University.
Rejecting Grad Union’s Title IX Request, Harvard Asks To Ban External Arbitration in All Discrimination Cases
As it negotiates with its graduate student union, Harvard is looking to excise contract language that lays out antidiscrimination protections and instead shift authority over complaints to policies and procedures maintained by the University.
Grad Union Asks Harvard To Fund Noncitizens’ Legal Expenses, Limit ICE Agents’ Entry to Campus
Harvard’s graduate student union requested that the University fully fund legal counsel for international workers facing visa revocations and restrict immigration enforcement agents’ access to campus spaces in a contract proposal presented on Thursday.
Primary Care Physicians at Mass General Brigham Vote to Unionize Amid Representation Dispute
Primary care physicians at Mass General Brigham voted overwhelmingly in favor of forming a union on Friday amid a dispute with the hospital system over their bargaining unit’s size.
University Agrees to Remove Time Caps for Preceptors and Lecturers
Harvard negotiators offered to remove limits on lecturer and preceptor appointments in a contract proposal to the University’s non-tenure-track faculty union on Monday, a major victory for the union.
Harvard Square Starbucks Baristas Unanimously Vote to Unionize
Starbucks baristas at the Harvard Square location at 1 JFK St. voted unanimously to unionize on Monday, joining Starbucks Workers United.
At Wednesday Rally, Dining Hall Workers Demand Harvard Prevent Understaffing During Hiring Freeze
More than 100 Harvard dining hall workers rallied in front of Massachusetts Hall to demand Harvard adequately staff dining halls amid a University-wide hiring freeze, delivering a petition with more than 400 signatures to the administration.
Residents and Fellows’ Union Reaches Tentative Agreement With Mass General Brigham
Residents and fellows at Mass General Brigham reached a tentative agreement on their first contract with the hospital system at a Tuesday bargaining session, marking the end of 18 months of negotiations with Massachusetts’ largest private employer.
Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Rally Against Time Caps, Interrupt FAS Meeting
Armenian preceptor Lisa Gulesserian interrupted Tuesday’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting to call on Harvard faculty to support an end to time caps after she was awarded a prize for excellence in teaching.
FAS Closes Barker Center Cafe, Citing Financial Strain
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences closed the Barker Center Cafe and laid off its 20 student employees and manager at the end of service on Wednesday, citing budget concerns.
Campus Unions Call on Harvard to Protect International Workers at Visitas Rally
More than 50 protesters supporting Harvard’s unions called on the University to protect non-citizen workers and draw on its endowment to ride out funding cuts at a Sunday rally in the Science Center Plaza.
Grad Student Union To Ask for Access to Third-Party Arbitration in Title IX Cases
Harvard’s graduate student union will bring a proposal for third-party arbitration in discrimination and harassment cases to negotiations — a potentially contentious demand in its third set of contract negotiations.
Harvard Staff Union Urges University To Draw on Unrestricted Funds to Support Research
The executive board of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers called on the University to draw on its unrestricted endowment funds to sustain campus research amid funding cuts in an open letter to Harvard affiliates on Monday.
At Union Event, UC-Riverside Professor Says Harvard Is a Collaborator With Trump
University of California-Riverside Professor Dylan Rodriguez discussed organizing against “enemy institutions” like Harvard under the Trump administration at a Thursday event hosted by the graduate student union’s unofficial Workers’ Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions caucus.
Harvard Language Programs Struggle to Maintain Staffing Levels Amid Hiring Freeze
Harvard programs relying heavily on non-tenure track instructors are facing uncertainty as they look to fill impending vacancies amid Harvard’s hiring freeze.