Harvard Academic Workers Open Strike Authorization Vote After 18 Months of Stalled Negotiations

Harvard Academic Workers-United Auto Workers launched a strike authorization vote Friday after 32 bargaining sessions with the University produced no first contract, marking a significant escalation in negotiations that began 18 months ago.

The vote — which remains open until the union chooses to close it — requires a two-thirds majority to authorize the bargaining committee to call a strike. Of 37 proposed contract articles, only 13 have reached tentative agreement. Core disputes over academic freedom, time caps for non-tenure-track faculty, and protections for non-citizen workers remain unresolved after nearly 100 hours at the table.

Bargaining committee member J. Gregory Given said the decision reflected growing frustration among members.

“We felt confident opening the strike authorization vote because we knew it was a step that our colleagues were frankly asking us to take, and we're ready to take, and they’re tired of how long this bargaining has been driving on,” he said.

The union’s position has weakened structurally since the talks first began. Member appointments have expired during negotiations, and a concurrent hiring freeze has shrunk the unit considerably. The union said it expects further losses at the close of the current fiscal year.

Job security for non-tenure-track faculty has been among the most contested issues between Harvard and the union. In February, the University offered to eliminate time-capped appointments for preceptors and lecturers on the condition that they take on one to two additional course sections annually. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences separately cut non-tenure-track spending by a quarter, saying it would absorb the reduction through fewer reappointments.

HAW-UAW advanced its latest counter-proposal on the issue at last week’s session. Harvard had not accepted it as of Friday.

Given accused Harvard of negotiating in bad faith, pointing specifically to its position on job classifications.

“They’re continuing to insist in the contract for title to classifications that they should have the right to freely add, eliminate or modify any classification in the unit,” Given said. “Which effectively nullifies that entire article.”

“It really is showing the bad faith in which they are negotiating,” he added.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton disputed that characterization, writing that Harvard proposed a compensation article in October 2025 that the union had not yet responded to at the bargaining table, and pointed to the 13 existing tentative agreements as evidence of progress.

“The University remains committed to bargaining in good faith,” he wrote. “We appreciate the essential contributions that HAW members provide to Harvard’s mission and will continue to work toward an agreement that is beneficial to all.”

Rank-and-file members said the authorization vote was necessary to give the union some leverage in the talks. Sarah Biddle, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics, said the absence of non-citizen worker protections had grown particularly acute under the Trump administration.

"After 18 months of negotiations and still no real movement on our main priorities, it is time to send a message to Harvard that they need to take us seriously," she wrote.

Alexandra C. Stanton, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School, said the vote was ultimately about demonstrating the union's collective resolve.

“The power that we have in the bargaining room comes from the power that we have outside of the bargaining room,” Stanton said. “And that is the power that we have because of the really important work that we do here.”

“I think we really need to demonstrate to Harvard that people are ready to fight for a contract,” she added.

The authorization vote coincides with an ongoing, but separate, strike vote by Harvard Graduate Student Workers-UAW. The two unions share several key demands, including protections for non-citizen workers and independent grievance procedures for harassment and discrimination cases.

—Staff writer Taylor M. Bierwerth can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @tmbierwerth.

—Staff writer Noah A. Ferris can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @noahaferris.