Labor
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.
Grad Student Union Introduces First Contract Articles Following Bargaining Observation Debate
At the session, Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers presented proposals to extend the grievance filing deadline from 30 days to 90, receive employment letters within 60 days of the employment start date for salaried workers, and guarantee easily accessible private meeting spaces.
Amid Freeze, Harvard Will Continue Hiring Undergraduate Course Assistants
Departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences are continuing to hire undergraduate course assistants to fill open positions next fall amid a University-wide hiring freeze — marking a notable exception to one strategy for saving money under the looming threat of funding cuts.
Former Acting Secretary of Labor Calls On Students to 'Fight For Federal Government Employees' at HLS Talk
Julie Su, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Joe Biden, condemned President Donald Trump’s attempts to slash the federal civil service. She challenged attendees of Tuesday’s Harvard Law School discussion to stand up against the Trump administration’s efforts.
Harvard Is Checking International Students’ Visa Status Daily After Revocations
Harvard’s International Office confirmed that it is checking the status of students’ visas on a daily basis, following a Sunday announcement to international students on the revocation of five Harvard affiliates’ visas.
Harvard Police Union Overwhelmingly Votes No Confidence in HUPD Chief Clay
Members of Harvard’s police union voted overwhelmingly to declare “no confidence” in Harvard University Police Department Chief Victor A. Clay, an extraordinary censure of the department’s leadership by its own rank-and-file.
UAW President Urges Harvard Not to ‘Cave’ to Trump Admin at IOP Forum
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain called on Harvard to stand up against the Trump administration’s attacks on federal funding at an Institute of Politics forum on Monday.
Harvard Grad Union Agrees To Bargain Without Ground Rules
Harvard’s graduate student union agreed to negotiate its third contract with the University without ground rules on Friday, after the two sides were unable to agree on policies for bargaining observation.
Harvard, Union Hash Out Immigration Policies Amid National ICE Raid Wave
Harvard agreed to provide non-tenure-track employees with paid leave during immigration proceedings, but declined to commit to sponsoring legal permanent residency applications in a contract counter proposal presented on Monday.
Parents, Staff Ask CPS To Budget for More Paraprofessional Staffing, But Superintendent Is Skeptical
Cambridge Public Schools parents and staff advocated for increased paraprofessional staffing — with no success — at a Tuesday School Committee meeting on the district’s fiscal year 2026 budget.
As Contract Negotiations Begin, Harvard and Grad Students’ Union Are Still Debating Bargaining Rules
Harvard and its graduate student union remain stuck in a dispute over bargaining observation rules nearly a month after negotiations for their third contract were set to begin.