After Negotiations, Police Union Ratifies New Contract

After months of negotiations, Harvard and a union representing Harvard University Police Department officers have agreed on a new contract that grants pay increases for union members and adds them to the University’s health care plans.

The new contract includes wage increases of 3 percent per year for Harvard University Police Association members, and a transition from the union health care plan to the University’s Active and Post Retiree health plans. The union’s old contract expired on November 30, 2016. The contract will last for four years.

“Harvard’s police officers play an important role in support of the University’s teaching and research mission, and we are pleased to have reached an agreement with Harvard University Police Association,” University spokesperson Tania deLuzuriaga wrote in an emailed statement. “We believe that this agreement serves the interests of both the represented employees as well as that of the University.”

HUPA members, too, said the new contract met their needs.

“It took a little time but both sides are, I think, happy with it,” Michael Allen, president of HUPA, said. “It took a little time but I think it’s a fair contract on both sides and our membership overwhelmingly approved it, so that makes me happy.”

HUPA and the University reached a contract agreement on March 10, and the union ratified the contract on March 21. At the ratification meeting, all 30 union members who voted approved the contract. HUPA needed a simple majority of its 59 members to vote for the contract in order to adopt it. Some members were unable to attend the meeting and cast a vote because of their work schedules.

HUPA’s contract comes after a series of contract negotiations between the University and its unions. In February, Harvard University Security, Parking and Museum Guards Union also ratified a new contract. That contract granted guard union members a 3.14 percent increase in average annualized wages and acceptance of the University’s Active and Post Retiree health plans.

In November, Harvard University Dining Services workers, represented by UNITE HERE LOCAL 26, went on a historic strike for 22 days. Their new contract includes retroactive 2.5 percent wage increases and will transition members of the union to Harvard’s Active and Post Retiree health plans starting in 2019.

Weeks after the HUDS strike, Harvard’s custodial workers, represented by 32BJ SEIU, and the University reached an agreement guaranteeing union members a 12.5 percent pay increase over the course of their four-year contract.

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