More Than 3,600 Sign HUCTW Petition Urging Harvard to Halt Layoffs

More than 3,600 people signed a petition calling on Harvard to halt layoffs, as the Harvard Union of Technical and Clerical Workers intensifies its opposition to ongoing and proposed staff cuts.

The petition — signed by HUCTW members as well as non-union staff, faculty, students, alumni, and members of other campus unions — is set to be delivered through email to top Harvard officials this week, according to HUCTW leaders.

The petition argues that recent job cuts are “painful” and “unnecessary” and lack “concrete financial justification,” suggesting that Harvard’s financial position does not justify reductions at the current scale.

It also calls on administrators to provide more detailed financial disclosures and to prioritize preserving staff jobs, warning that cuts are being made “not out of urgent necessity but in reaction to fear and speculation about the future.”

HUCTW President Simone R. Gonzalez ’13 said the petition reflects concerns about a lack of transparency, adding that administrators have cited a projected deficit without clearly explaining the rationale behind layoffs.

“The communication has been disappointing in the sense that the University is parroting these numbers,” she said. “It’s speaking to the financial precarity of the current moment in a way that doesn’t feel genuine or accurate to people’s lived experiences on the ground.”

The concerns come as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has pointed to a projected structural deficit of roughly $350 million — a figure administrators have cited in weighing budget cuts.

Union leaders, for their part, have pointed to FAS’s reported operating deficit of about $8 million for fiscal year 2025, seizing on the gap and arguing that the assumptions underlying the FAS’s estimates have not been publicly released.

At a November faculty meeting, administrators outlined components of the projected shortfall that were not included in FAS’s report, including an estimated $98 million increase tied to higher endowment taxes and roughly $262 million in capital expenditures — figures that together account for most of the projected deficit.

Against that backdrop, Gonzalez pointed in particular to recent layoffs in the Alumni Affairs and Development unit, where Harvard cut more than 50 staff members, including 12 HUCTW members, as an example of what she described as a disconnect between the University’s financial position and its staffing decisions.

According to the union, AA&D — “with the help of these 53 employees” — is on track to surpass its fundraising goals for fiscal year 2026. In fiscal year 2025, the office raised $629 million in current-use gifts, a record total.

Union leaders said those figures call into question the need for cuts in a division responsible for generating revenue.

“They’ve said themselves that fundraising is more necessary than ever, and that fundraising team is doing an amazing job,” HUCTW organizer Carrie Barbash said. “It defies logic.”

Barbash added that the layoffs reflect a broader pattern of cost-cutting measures that risk undermining the University’s core operations.

“I know what our members do, and it’s everything that makes Harvard work as a university,” Barbash said, “like faculty — all the things that they need to get accomplished, our members facilitate. All the things that students do throughout their career at Harvard is all facilitated by our staff.”

Barbash said staffing levels have already declined significantly over the past year due to attrition and a hiring freeze. Some schools — including the School of Public Health and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences — have seen reductions approaching 20 percent, according to the union.

A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment on the petition.

The petition began circulating in late 2025 and has continued to gather signatures as layoffs expanded across several schools. Organizers said they delayed its release while focusing on responding to job cuts earlier this year.

The effort is part of a broader union campaign that has also included an open letter, sent last Thursday, to University leadership raising concerns about financial transparency and potential restructuring, particularly within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

HUCTW’s current contract, which expires at the end of June, requires Harvard to consult with union officials before implementing layoffs. Through that process, union representatives can press administrators for justification and propose alternatives, though they cannot block job cuts outright.

Union leaders said the process has provided one of the few avenues to mitigate layoffs and help displaced workers find new roles through the University’s work security program.

“Every time we can prevent a layoff through the consultation process, that is a huge victory,” Barbash said.

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