Harvard Grad Student Union Authorizes Strike With Nearly 96% Support

Harvard’s graduate student union overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike, with 95.8 percent of ballots cast in favor after four weeks of voting — setting up a potential third walkout since 2019.

79 percent of members of the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers participated, with 1,966 voting yes, union officials announced Wednesday afternoon. The measure required a two-thirds supermajority to pass.

The vote came as the union added roughly 300 new members during the four-week voting period.

The authorization empowers the union’s bargaining committee to call a strike if negotiations stall, though leaders emphasized they hope to avoid a work stoppage.

“We have had thousands of conversations over the period of when the strike authorization vote was open, and we talked about whether or not it made sense to strike at this point,” said bargaining committee member Denish K. Jaswal. “And I think the numbers speak for themselves.”

The vote comes as the union enters its second year of contract negotiations with Harvard, with little progress on key issues. Major proposals — including compensation, protections for non-citizen workers, and policies on harassment and discrimination — remain unresolved.

Union leaders said the result reflects growing frustration over the pace of bargaining and what they described as repeated rejections from the University. Jaswal said Harvard recently issued a blanket rejection of several proposals and urged administrators to “actually take our issues seriously and meet us at the table to try and work through them together.”

Rank-and-file members said the vote also galvanized organizing across campus.

“It was a great way — in turning out to vote — to get to connect with students across the entirety of Harvard’s campuses,” said Edan Larkin, a third-year doctoral student and union steward. “People are excited, people are passionate.”

Laura Chen, a fourth-year doctoral student and union steward, said she was “impressed” by the turnout.

“It’s been really frustrating to hear about how bargaining has been going,” she added.

Despite the decisive margin, union leaders stressed that a strike is not inevitable.

“This vote is really an indication about how members are feeling, and I think that our goal is still to avoid the strike if possible,” Jaswal said.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in a statement that the University will continue negotiating in good faith.

"The University is committed to pursuing and continuing good faith negotiations and discussions with the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers,” he wrote. “We will keep working to reach a deal that is beneficial to both parties."

Harvard graduate students last went on a three-day strike in October 2021, staging a three-day walkout less than four weeks after 92 percent of voting members authorized a strike. After a second threat to strike the next month, HGSU-UAW ratified a second contract in November 2021.

A new strike would likely disrupt teaching and research across the University, where graduate student workers play central roles in instruction, grading, and lab work.

Even as both sides say they hope to avoid that outcome, preparations are already underway. A day before voting began, union president Sara V. Speller urged members to support one another during what she called “unprecedented” times. More than a week later, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra wrote to faculty urging contingency planning.

“Advance preparation will be critical to minimizing disruption to teaching and learning, particularly as we approach the close of the academic year,” she wrote.

The union has not yet determined whether or when it will call a strike, saying any decision will be made through a democratic process involving its membership.

—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.