Harvard Graduate Workers Begin Their Second Strike of 2026 as Two More Campus Unions Edge Toward Walkouts

Harvard graduate student workers went on strike at midnight Tuesday, their second walkout of the year, after a 40-day strike this spring ended without a new contract, The Harvard Crimson reported. Members of the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers rallied at the Science Center Plaza on Tuesday afternoon and later at Zimmer Hall, chanting and carrying signs demanding higher wages.

The union says it entered the second strike with a narrower set of demands. HGSU vice president Evan R. Lemire pointed to Harvard's endowment, which the Crimson reported grew to nearly $68 billion this year. "The richest university in the world can afford to pay its workers," Lemire said.

Wages are only part of the dispute. The union is pushing for an independent process to handle harassment and discrimination complaints. HGSU president Denish K. Jaswal said one in five student workers reported experiencing harassment or discrimination, according to the Crimson, and Lemire said the union wants arbitration for complaints involving third parties outside the university.

Harvard disputes the union's account. In a Monday email to Harvard affiliates, Provost John F. Manning and Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick called another strike "unwarranted" and pointed to the university's latest proposal, which includes an initial 6.1 percent raise followed by annual increases of 3 percent, the Crimson reported. "The University remains fully committed to continued good faith negotiations," they wrote. "We believe that remaining differences can be resolved at the bargaining table."

The strike is one of three labor disputes at Harvard this fall. The university's dining workers voted last week to authorize a strike after working without a contract since June, and the union representing non-tenure-track faculty, Harvard Academic Workers, has set a Nov. 10 strike deadline, according to the Crimson. Lemire said the simultaneous disputes were "no coincidence."

The Crimson's report did not say how many sections or labs were affected on the first day of the strike.

Across the river, the same pressure is building at MIT, where the Graduate Student Union passed its first strike authorization vote last week, The Tech reported.

What remains unknown: how long the strike will last, whether Harvard will change its wage offer, and whether the dining and academic workers' unions will walk out while graduate workers are on strike.