Harvard Graduate Student Union Sets Oct. 27 Strike Date if No Contract Is Reached
The union, which represents more than 4,000 student workers, says it will walk out again after a 40-day strike in the spring ended without a contract.
Harvard's graduate student union said it will begin a strike on Oct. 27 if it does not reach a contract agreement with the university by then, The Harvard Crimson reported.
Eighty-eight percent of voting members of the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers, which represents more than 4,000 student workers, voted earlier this month to authorize a strike. The union's 40-day strike, which ran from April 21 to June 1, ended without a contract.
The union said the main unresolved issues are wages, protections for noncitizen workers and an independent grievance process for harassment and discrimination cases. According to the union, Harvard raised its proposed annual wage increases to 3 percent at an Oct. 8 bargaining session. Harvard has said it proposed a 6.1 percent raise upon ratification and a 13.9 percent increase over the life of the contract.
In an Oct. 2 letter to faculty, Harvard officials wrote that a second strike over the same goals may be considered intermittent and not protected under federal labor law. The union rejected that characterization.
