I’m a Physics Course Assistant. Here’s Why I’m Not Striking.

The Harvard Graduate Students Union emailed me last week urging course assistants to join them and strike. They promised me $550 a week in strike pay.

After long and careful consideration, I have decided to decline.

I’m a CA for Physics 15A: “Introductory Mechanics and Relativity,” and while I support the strike, I’m not participating. My strike action would disproportionately harm students and be a poor use of union funds.

At risk of sounding crass, I’ll start with the obvious: money. As a CA, I am paid $21 an hour, and I typically work around 12 hours a week, giving me a weekly pre-tax salary of $252. If I were to go on strike, I would have two options: I could either refuse pay altogether or let the union pay me over double my normal salary. The latter offer tempted me more than I care to admit. But while I support the union and its goals, I don’t believe their money would be best spent on me.

I want the union to use its funds to support workers who have to pay for housing, food, utilities, and in some cases, childcare. The vast majority of CAs, on the other hand, live in Harvard housing: around 97 percent of Harvard College students live on campus and most enjoy an unlimited meal plan.

Next, there is the issue of who is striking and why. My particular position has led to my decision. As a CA, I believe that I am fairly compensated. I work for roughly three times the federal minimum wage (also minimum wage in my home state of Texas) in a job that I find mentally stimulating and not very stressful. I would always love a raise, but I don’t believe I’m owed one. Other student workers of course deserve to feel safe in their workplaces, but I feel adequately protected by existing language about workplace harassment.

Most importantly, there is the issue of who the strike actually affects. When a research assistant strikes, she affects the people in her lab. Mostly, she impacts her supervisor, a person who holds more power than her on the University level and could reasonably help force Harvard to the negotiating table.

If I went on strike, I wouldn’t really impact my supervisor (except perhaps by increasing her office hour attendance). Instead, I would almost exclusively harm the students I help teach.

As a CA, my role is nearly entirely student-facing. I host office hours in person and grade student work. In my absence, there would be one fewer person helping out with a tricky problem, one less question answered, and one more reason to turn to an AI chatbot for quick assistance. Fewer people would be available to grade problem sets, leading to sloppy mistakes and little to no feedback.

The same could be said for many TFs. However, the reason for a TF strike is much stronger than the reasons for a CA: TFs receive worse compensation than those in comparable positions in our peer schools, and they rely on their pay to support themselves. Taking into account this stronger motivation, I support the more aggressive means that TFs must take to reach their ultimate goals.

The only remaining reason I would have to strike would be a sympathy strike. In doing so, I would have to leverage the academic wellbeing of my students as a bargaining chip, something I am not willing to do.

I’m not convinced that student frustration with the strike, no matter how well or loudly vocalized, would impact Harvard’s decision making. The University, for better or for worse, has shown a consistent disregard for student opinions.

Striking won’t be the best course of action for every student worker. I strongly encourage my fellow teaching staff to think deeply about who their strike action effects, and whether that harm is worth it to them in the long run. Personally, I plan to support the strike by refusing to fill in for any labor of striking TFs. I also recently enrolled as a union member, so HGSU can count on dues from my paycheck while they’re on strike.

To the graduate students, I wish you luck with your strike. I understand that you have made this decision carefully after months of tedious negotiations. To any of my students who are reading this, do your problem set! I’ll see you during office hours.

Anna J. Guerrini ’29, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Physics concentrator in Pforzheimer House.