My name is Lee Kennedy-Shaffer, and I am a fourth year PhD student in biostatistics. On Thursday, we had our third bargaining session since the shutdown of campus. We presented a comprehensive compromise proposal for a one-year contract to the administration. We are working diligently to reach an agreement that would take effect on July 1st. Our priority …
Bargaining Update 5/21: Working Towards a Final Agreement Read More »
My name is Justin Bloesch, and I am a 4th year PhD student in economics. On Friday we (virtually) met with the Harvard administration for the first time since they postponed bargaining to assess the financial impact of COVID-19 on March 25. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic our negotiations have been happening …
I hope you are staying safe and healthy. My name is Ege, and I’m a PhD student in philosophy and member of the bargaining committee. I’m writing to give you an update on some of our union’s work during COVID-19. New Tentative Agreement on Workload; Addressing workload concerns Many Teaching Fellows have reported significant …
I hope this email finds you safe and healthy. My name is Ege Yumusak and I’m a Ph.D. student and teaching fellow in Philosophy and on the bargaining committee. I logged into our first virtual negotiation session with the university administration yesterday (also the first session since Harvard moved operations online due to COVID-19). …
Critical update: Harvard suspends negotiations over economics; General Meeting on Friday Read More »
My name is Lee Kennedy-Shaffer and I’m a 4th-year student and research assistant in biostatistics and a member of the bargaining committee. I facilitated Friday’s mediated bargaining session with the university. The university has refused to meet again before March 25 and has not returned our requests for setting dates in April. We are continuing …
My name is Jenni Austiff and I’m a G4 and Research Assistant in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and a member of the bargaining committee. I facilitated Friday’s mediated bargaining session with the university. As you may remember, during our strike, the administration proposed we engage the assistance of a federal mediator; and they said they …
My name is Cory McCartan and I’m a G1 in statistics and a member of the bargaining committee. I facilitated yesterday’s mediated bargaining session with the university. We reached three new tentative agreements: holidays, vacations, and personal days; parking and transit; and the employee assistance program. These are important wins, but on other big issues—like …
My name is Rachel Sandalow-Ash and I am a research assistant at Harvard Law School and a member of the Harvard Graduate Students Union bargaining committee. During our strike, Provost Garber said that the university administration hoped to reach a contract “within the month ahead.” Given the small number of proposals the administration has brought …
This is Cole Meisenhelder from the physics department. Last week’s bargaining session was rescheduled because Harvard’s lead negotiator had an emergency, so today was our second day of mediation. We have scheduled another session for next Thursday, January 30. Yesterday, we had productive discussions on personal days and vacations, compensation, and appointment letters. While part of these …
My name is Lee Kennedy-Shaffer and I’m in biostatitics. As the bargaining team prepared for mediation, we were empowered by our fall 2019 strike and excited to enter a new stage for our struggle. Tuesday was the first full day of mediation with a federal mediator, Martin Callaghan from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services. …
