Picketing Disrupts Deliveries Across Campus

Harvard deliveries have been disrupted since Tuesday morning as graduate student workers picket loading docks across campus — at times prompting drivers to turn away rather than cross the line.

Some delivery drivers declined to complete drop-offs after speaking with picketers, while others attempted to reroute shipments through alternate routes.

According to Evan R. Lemire, a HGSU executive board member, drivers from companies including UPS, USPS, Airgas, Taylor Oil, and Arrow Paper Corporation have been unable to access multiple docking sites in Cambridge since the strike began.

A UPS driver said packages scheduled for the Harvard Yard Mail Center at 1 Oxford St. were not delivered Wednesday because drivers were unwilling to cross the picket line. Instead, the packages are expected to be retrieved from a UPS facility by Harvard Transportation Services staff. UPS drivers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, whose contracts allow workers to honor picket lines.

Lemire said sanitation and supply deliveries have also been affected. A Harvard Waste Management truck was unable to enter picketed areas on Divinity Avenue and in Longwood around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, and additional waste and Securitas supply trucks were turned away earlier in the day. At the New Research Building in Longwood, picketers diverted a food delivery intended for a conference on RNA Medicine.

According to Lemire, a FedEx driver connected picketers with a dispatcher by phone, and the dispatcher agreed to halt deliveries along Divinity Avenue for the next several days.

Spokespeople for Harvard and Harvard Transportation Services did not respond to a request for comment.

Not all deliveries have been blocked. An Amazon delivery vehicle and a truck from AFS Air Filter Sales crossed the picket line Wednesday morning. In another instance, a Boston Sand & Gravel Company truck was briefly delayed at a Divinity Avenue loading site before a Harvard University Police Department officer asked picketers to clear a path, allowing the truck to proceed.

A HUPD spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Known picketing locations include delivery areas in Longwood, along Divinity Avenue, at the Science Center, the Northwest Building, and the CGIS complex. Workers have concentrated their efforts during morning shifts — roughly 6:30 a.m. to noon — to target peak delivery hours.