COVID-19 Organizing History
COVID-19 began at a crucial moment in our first contract negotiations–our members quickly recognized that their organizing expertise would be essential to advocating for safety and security for Harvard student workers (and the Harvard community more broadly) during the pandemic. In the first few months of the pandemic, we launched a mutual aid program, advocated for one-year bridge funding with the GSAS Student Council, and identified and presented student workers’ demands to the administration. You can read our correspondence with the administration–and review our demand tracker–below.
Initial Letter to Admin: March 2020
Dear President Bacow and Provost Garber,
- Ensure that hourly workers do not face loss of pay because of building closures or suspension of certain university operations. Any hourly workers whose duties must be reduced should be compensated for the hours they would have worked if the disruptions had not occurred;
- Guarantee the full salaries of all salaried and stipended workers, regardless of course cancellations, lab closures, or other extenuating circumstances;
- Provide unlimited paid sick time, with full health benefits, during this emergency for workers to take care of their own illness or that of a family or household member, self-isolate to avoid potentially spreading the virus, or self-isolate to protect themselves and loved ones who are particularly vulnerable to the virus. In addition, provide paid time off, even for employees who can work remotely, for child care in the event that schools and child care centers close;
- Ensure that any students on F-1 visas are able to maintain their visa status even if courses shift online, and support students who must leave the country if visa statuses change, as per the tentative agreement on international student worker rights signed by the administration and HGSU-UAW;
- Guarantee that policies will be nondiscriminatory so that no individuals or groups in our community are unfairly targeted (e.g. racial profiling) and so that any policies do not perpetuate the harmful discrimination that often comes with public health emergencies;
- Commit to fully covering the costs of coronavirus testing, treatment, and vaccination through the Harvard Student Health Insurance Plan and other Harvard-sponsored insurance plans as soon as these measures are available, as the Massachusetts Division of Insurance has mandated for insurers it regulates. Harvard must also ensure that HUHS employees are fully aware of where to refer individuals to seek such care, even if away from campus, and how that care will be fully covered, for those with insurance through Harvard or through other, more affordable, providers;
- Reimburse all costs incurred by students and workers who are asked to leave campus, including but not limited to: transportation costs; storage costs; rent for those displaced from Harvard housing; and food and living expenses for students who lose access to meal plans
- Immediately reimburse travel expenses incurred by individuals for trips cancelled due to the university’s travel prohibitions and suggestions, with no loss of access to funds for professional development and other university-related travel in the future;
- Ensure that appropriate sick time, family/medical leave, and health benefits are granted in contracts with all campus unions so that no worker has to choose between their financial well-being and the safety of our community.
While our members and workers across campus adapt to rapidly changing working conditions, it is the responsibility of the university to minimize financial uncertainty for these individuals and to ensure that everyone can follow appropriate public health measures. COVID-19 has highlighted many gaps in global preparedness to fight epidemics and underscored the necessity of fair health care and leave policies for all workers. As a school that prides itself on leading the way in research and education, including in public health, Harvard has an opportunity to set a standard for policies that support workers in precarious times. We ask the administration to take these commonsense steps to protect the public’s health and the well-being of all employees. As HGSU-UAW leadership we are ready to work together.
Sincerely,
HGSU-UAW Bargaining Committee
UPDATE (March 11, 2020):
Since sending this letter, HGSU-UAW members have encountered additional difficulties in attempting to follow public health advice and the advice of the university and they face further uncertainties about future work positions. To address these concerns, in addition to the steps above, the administration must:
- Immediately waive any prescription drug regulations in Harvard-sponsored insurance plans so that individuals can fill their prescription drugs before leaving campus and ensure a supply of needed medications that is adequate in the event that they must self-isolate, steps other insurers are already taking. The administration must also commit to promptly reimbursing individuals who paid out of pocket for such a supply in the interim;
- Immediately waive the Student Health Insurance Plan’s 6-visit limit on specialist visits outside of Harvard University Health Services, and/or cover the costs of all care that would ordinarily be accessible at HUHS without cost-sharing;
- Provide legal guidance on immigration status for all international students and guarantee legal support if federal immigration officials do not follow through on their guidance regarding temporary adaptations to classes or if students cannot “continue to make normal progress in a full course of study” because of illness, inadequate educational resources, or other complications; and
- Guarantee summer appointments that have been made will be honored, with full pay and benefits, regardless of the status of university operations at the time.
UPDATE: Response from Harvard Administration (March 12, 2020)
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your letter on behalf of the members of your bargaining unit, sharing concerns about the effects that coronavirus is having on the Harvard community. We recognize that this is a challenging time for all members of our community and are committed to doing all that we can to ensure their health and safety as we continue to respond to this unprecedented public health emergency in the coming days and weeks.
The concerns you shared are among those that the University is working to address. We continuously update the Harvard coronavirus website with the latest information and resources related to our response to COVID-19. Already, we have answers related to questions we’ve received, including your inquiries regarding: whether graduate students will continue to receive stipends, whether salaried workers will continue to be paid, and the latest government guidance regarding international students and this shift to virtual instruction. Additionally, we continue to encourage any student who may face financial uncertainties as a result of the steps being taken in response to this public health emergency to be in touch with her School’s financial aid office.
We will continue to add more information and updates as further decisions are made around resources for all members of our community.
Thank you again for sharing your concerns.
Best,
Alan Garber
UPDATE (March 22, 2020):
As Harvard shifts to virtual instruction and research labs close down, we are beginning to see the long-term impacts of these changes to our school and workplace in addition to the many immediate challenges. We commend the administration for taking important steps to address critical needs of students and student workers: waiving the Student Health Insurance Plan’s specialist and mental health visit limits, guaranteeing coronavirus testing with no cost-sharing when available, providing important support to immigrant student workers, easing prescription drug rules in the health plan, and guaranteeing the salaries of student workers for this semester.
There continues to be issues that must be addressed, and some of these policies need to be made permanent to provide relief.
Many of these issues are outside of the realm of our bargaining unit positions, but they are crucial to ensuring students, including our bargaining unit members, can remain enrolled at Harvard and that education is accessible to those from less privileged backgrounds. We therefore urge the administration to support students by:
- Guaranteeing that university and department financial support for students, whether in the form of jobs, fellowships, stipends, or financial aid, for the summer and the next academic year, will not be reduced, despite campus, library, archive closures, course and event cancellations, cancelled travel or field trips, or other consequences of the pandemic;
- Matching the financial support of any external or internal fellowships that are cancelled due to disruptions surrounding the pandemic;
- Providing an automatic one-year G-clock adjustment for all students who request it, just as the University has extended its tenure clock for junior faculty by one year, to enable time to make up research and coursework lost due to the disruptions; and
- Guaranteeing an additional year of support at equivalent levels (taking account changed economic circumstances, lost external employment, and other impacts of the pandemic), encompassing financial aid, tuition remission, teaching guarantees, and stipends, to all graduate, undergraduate, and professional school students whose progress towards degree completion was disrupted by the pandemic.
