In bargaining, we received only one counter-proposal from the administration. Harvard has only agreed to meet two more times this summer—and they reiterated their unwillingness to meet more before the start of the fall semester. We voted for our union more than a year ago, but because of Harvard’s deliberate delays, as of Fall 2019 we will not have a contract, and we will have to raise our voices to get a fair contract next year.
Testimonials from student parents & discussion of family-friendly benefits
At the bargaining table, student worker parents talked about the challenges they face — including childcare and healthcare costs as high as $25,000/year — not including additional food, housing, or clothes for their children. In the status quo, student worker parents in GSAS are awarded a one-time $6516 paycheck and 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave, often returning to teach or conduct research immediately. And student worker parents at Harvard schools outside of GSAS do not even have a guarantee of these minimal supports.
Other universities—with far smaller endowments than Harvard—have agreed to provide meaningful support for student worker parents. We are calling on Harvard to do the same. We want to erase the unaffordable dependent healthcare premiums set by the university; guarantee fully paid leave to all student workers; and secure annual childcare subsidies that peer institutions award.
In response to the testimonials, one member of the administrator’s bargaining team said that student parents haven’t shown gratitude for the supports that the university does provide. But we are not trying to erase these supports—we are trying to build on them so that nobody has to choose between having a family and pursuing a graduate degree.
Funding Stability
We also discussed funding beyond the 4th year for doctoral students. We are working to secure stronger guarantees of funding and work for those doctoral students who lose the funding security awarded in the earlier years of the Ph.D.
Progress on Grievance Procedure
The administration responded to our proposal for a fair and neutral grievance procedure that will empower student workers to enforce our rights. We are now in agreement on the number of steps a grievance procedure should involve: two informal steps and a final arbitration step. This is a huge step in terms of attaining a grievance procedure that is efficient and effective.
- However, in order to win a grievance procedure that we can trust to protect our contractual rights, we need to come to an agreement on some components of the proposal such as:
- The number of days the University will have to respond at every step of processing. Currently, the Harvard administration is trying to stretch out the timeline of a grievance for nearly two months. This is simply too long when a student worker is facing an urgent issue that needs to be corrected.
- The process for the selection of an arbitrator. We are considering several options and we need to have more discussions about what process will best serve our members.
Blanket refusals on discrimination and harassment protections
Once again, the administration insisted on carving out discrimination and harassment complaints from our grievance procedure. Their external counsel told us, “We have said unequivocally that we don’t want those cases going to arbitration. There’s nothing left to talk about.” In the last session, the administration told us that they are spending huge sums of money to improve their internal processes—but this is no excuse: we cannot trust the university to police itself. We need the option for third-party neutral arbitration.
We will not meet with the administration until July. Please reach out to us if you want to support our campaign. We are committed to negotiating a strong first contract. At this point, we can do only do that if we unite and raise our voice. You can respond to this email or contact a departmental leader to have a conversation about how you can help.
| How can you help? Join us at 5:30pm on June 27th at Boston City Hall, where the Boston City Council is holding a hearing to ask universities in the area, including Harvard, Boston College, and Northeastern, why they are refusing the meet the demands of their student workers. This is a great opportunity to put pressure on the administration while we bargain over the summer. You can RSVP here. |
