HGSU-UAW Ends 40-Day Strike Without Contract

The Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers ended its 40-day strike on Monday without securing a new contract, closing the longest walkout in the union’s history.

A vast majority of participating union members — more than 81 percent — voted over the weekend to end the strike, according to HGSU-UAW Vice President Evan R. Lemire. Another 15 percent voted to continue the strike, while roughly 4 percent abstained.

Lemire introduced the motion to authorize an end to the strike at an all-membership meeting Friday, citing what he described as Harvard’s willingness to move on pay parity between research assistants and teaching fellows, paid family and medical leave, and a discrimination and harassment grievance process.

“Harvard has indicated in a way that they haven’t before that they’re willing to move on some of our key issues,” Lemire said. “This strike was not ended because the fight is over. The fight is not over, and we’re going to be continuing to fight for a new contract.”

“If we have another reason to strike, we are prepared, willing, and ready to strike,” he added. “Potentially for a long time.”

The strike ended with several of the union’s core demands — including higher wages, a discrimination and harassment grievance process, and non-citizen protections — remaining unresolved. HGSU-UAW wrote in a Monday statement that it would continue organizing as bargaining resumes this summer.

“Though we have still not reached a fair contract that includes these demands, we are hopeful that we have now reached a bargaining trajectory with the university that will allow us to do so,” the union wrote.

In a Monday email to faculty, Deputy Provost Jessica Soban and Labor and Employee Relations Managing Director Paul R. Curran wrote that Harvard remained committed to negotiations with the union.

“While a contract has not been agreed upon, the University remains committed to the ongoing negotiations with the student worker union and to bargaining in good faith,” Soban and Curran wrote.

The strike, which began April 21, was HGSU-UAW’s third since it won recognition and surpassed the union’s previous 29-day record set during its December 2019 walkout. Graduate student workers withheld their labor at the end of the spring semester, disrupting classes, sections, and grading for College students.

Lemire said that TFs’ contracts ended over the weekend, meaning that graduate students are no longer contractually obligated to finish grading for their spring courses.

“Faculty are able to rehire TFs on a temporary appointment if they need help finishing the grading, but TFs shouldn’t be compelled and can’t be compelled to do the work that they struck from now that their appointments have already elapsed.”

In its statement, HGSU-UAW said the strike showed Harvard’s reliance on graduate student labor.

“For 40 days, Harvard witnessed just how much of its academic mission relies on the labor of graduate student workers,” the union wrote.

The union also said Harvard’s response to the strike demonstrated the pressure created by the work stoppage, pointing to new reporting requirements for striking workers and efforts to hire replacement workers to submit final grades. HGSU-UAW alleged that some of those actions violated labor laws.

Since late April, the Office of Labor and Employee Relations has sent multiple emails to graduate students asking them to report time not worked due to the strike.

“Striking workers are not entitled to their regular pay for each day in which they withhold their labor, and workers do have an obligation to accurately report effort and labor,” Curran wrote in an April 28 email.

Curran also disputed HGSU-UAW’s guidance to members that they did not need to comply with the reporting request.

“Please note that during the prior HGSU-UAW strike, student workers were required to attest whether they were working or striking, and the University’s position on reporting requirements has not changed,” he wrote in the email.

Harvard has previously said it remains committed to reaching an agreement with the union. University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in a May statement that a package proposal offered in May was “a good-faith effort to move the two sides closer to an agreement.”

That package included expanded benefits for graduate students, a 1 percent increase to its four-year raise offer from 10 percent to 11 percent, and full dental coverage for Ph.D. students. But HGSU-UAW wrote that the offer fell short of its demands for a living wage and did not resolve other pending issues.

“While these proposals fall far short of the union’s demands,” it added, “they were the first indication of engagement from the university on the union’s priorities.”

The two sides have been bargaining for more than a year. Union and University representatives are scheduled to meet again June 9 and June 23.

Even without a finalized contract, HGSU-UAW framed the end of the strike as a continuation of their contract campaign rather than a retreat.

“The end of the strike is not the end of our fight for a fair contract,” the union wrote. “Our members leave the picket line more organized, more unified, and more committed than ever to advocate for the basic protections they deserve.”

—Staff writer Wyeth Renwick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @wzrenwick.

—Staff writer Claire L. Simon can be reached at [email protected] and Signal at csimon.13. Follow her on X @ClaireSimon.