MIT Offered Its Cops Zero Percent. So They Rented a Billboard Truck for Family Weekend

If you were at MIT for Family Weekend on Friday, you probably saw it: a big LED truck parked across from Lobby 7, according to The Tech, showing the pay and raises of MIT's top bosses, including President Sally Kornbluth and the police chief. That was the MIT Police Association, the union for the campus cops.

Their beef is simple. MIT offered a three-year contract with zero raise in year one and no promises after that, the union says. They've been working without a contract since July. Prices around here went up 3.7% in the year through July, per the federal labor stats The Tech cited. The union says execs got raises averaging 16.7%.

MIT's side, per The Tech, is that money's tight: the federal endowment tax passed last year and federal research cuts have squeezed the budget. That's a real thing. It's also a tough sell when the people getting squeezed are the ones who run toward the problem.

The department has 39 officers and three open spots, and the chief has committed to filling one, The Tech reported. The union says it won't strike. It's going for embarrassment instead, and a billboard during the weekend parents visit is a pretty sharp way to do it.

What we still don't know: whether MIT will put any raise on the table, when the two sides meet again, and whether the Institute will say anything about those executive pay numbers.