About Us
A Union Of Student Workers At Harvard University
HGSU-UAW is an organization of student workers from all schools, campuses and departments of Harvard University. We fight for better benefits, pay and working conditions to ensure our ability to provide the highest quality of teaching and research while receiving the level of respect we deserve.
A democratic union & a democratic workplace
Unions create workplace democracy, which is why rank and file member engagement, led by departmental leaders and stewards, is what powers our union. Our elected Executive Board has the responsibility for enabling that rank and file leadership by doing the day-to-day work of administering our union and creating forums for democratic decision-making. We’re proud that our local has led pushes for democratic reforms within the UAW–including voting 97% to replace delegate voting within the UAW with direct elections in the fall 2021 referendum–and we’re committed to ensuring the same transparency and democracy in our own local.
Our Second Contract
Our first elected HGSU-UAW Bargaining Committee negotiated with the Harvard administration from October 2018 through June of 2020; negotiations for that contract, which expired in June of 2021, laid the groundwork for our second contract fight. In January of 2021, our membership elected a second bargaining committee, which began negotiating our second contract in March.
Our contract campaign built on and coincided with the year-long membership drive that began immediately after the ratification of our first contract–and our organizing built a credible strike threat, starting with a strike organizing commitment letter, delivered at the end of June and signed by over 600 members. Our campaign culminated in a 3-day strike in October, held during freshman parents’ weekend, which caused major disruptions to university operations. Our bargaining committee reached a tentative agreement with the university the night before our second, indeterminate-length strike was slated to continue–a demonstration of the credibility of our strike threat and the power of our organizing.
