HGSU-UAW Current Bargaining Proposals

HGSU-UAW began negotiations with Harvard University in October 2018, after surveying members to identify priorities and key issues. Since then, we have made over 150 proposals on over 45 different issues in a good-faith attempt to reach an agreement. We have reached tentative agreement on eleven articles (meaning that these articles will not be reopened for negotiation unless both parties agree to do so):

We are close to agreement on several articles, but unfortunately there remain disagreements on core issues, including compensation, health and dental care, and arbitration for claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Below, we provide our most recent proposals and an explanation of our position, beginning with our core issues.

These bargaining proposals reflect our current bargaining position. Compromises will have to be made on both sides in order to reach a tentative agreement. We will update this page as we make new counterproposals.

Compensation and Payroll

We have pursued total compensation increases that reflect the value of our work, keep up with the cost of housing, compare favorably with the best examples of first contracts for other academic workers, and would enable Harvard to live up to its status as a world leader in teaching and research. If we hypothetically agreed on a three-year contract, for example, our current proposals would most likely produce salary/stipend increases averaging 6%–7% per year. While this would reflect a strong outcome of a first contract, we believe Harvard should be at the forefront of providing competitive compensation to student workers.

In contrast, Harvard has refused to bargain over total compensation, and the administration’s proposals would not guarantee *any* pay stability for teaching fellows. To be more specific: for teaching fellows in many departments some of their compensation in the form of “pay” and some in the form of “top-ups.” The administration has proposed raising pay (slightly) while maintaining total discretion over top-ups (and summer stipends). Such an arrangement does not allow us to contractually guarantee that student workers who teach will receive the same or better compensation over the whole year.

Harvard has unfortunately disseminated misleading contract examples to justify its lackluster proposals on compensation. Two of those contracts are not first contracts, which hides significant increases negotiated previously. And Harvard’s characterization of the contract at The New School fails to factor in the value of newly-negotiated fee waivers and access to subsidies for health insurance. A more relevant first contract example would be the agreement just completed for UAW Academic Researchers at the University of California, which includes average increases of 6% per year. Harvard’s proposals so far do not reflect the true value of our work or the standards in contracts with universities that have far fewer resources than Harvard.

Union Proposal

University Proposal

Effect on Financial Assistance

In a related proposal, Effect of the Agreement on Financial Assistance, SWs should not receive an increase in pay under the contract only to have their overall compensation reduced by the University deducting that increase from their financial aid. This has been the practice notably at the Law School.

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University

Non-discrimination and Harassment

Every credible observer (e,g. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, American Association of Universities) agrees that sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination are widespread, underreported, and undermine equity and inclusion in the academic workforce. Even the Harvard president remarked recently, “We must do better.” Our proposal aims to ensure access to a fair procedure for survivors—this means ensuring protection during the investigation process and timely access to a neutral arbitrator if necessary. Even though tens of thousands of other unionized academic student workers – and thousands of other Harvard employees – have such rights, the Administration team has continued to reject the core components of our proposal. Our process does not supplant existing processes, like the Title IX Office, but provides for an additional mechanism that would be adjudicated by people not employed by the administration.

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Health Benefits

We wanted to take a moment to thank you for your guidance in our academic careers. We write to you today to keep you informed about our negotiations and dispel some misinformation, because we believe that our contract will form the basis of a stronger relationship between us.

Campaign History
On April 18th and 19th of last year, we voted to form our union. Since then, the administration has agreed to bargain, and we elected our bargaining committee. We then filled out thousands of surveys in an effort to inform our bargaining committee of our priorities and give them direction for what we would like to see in our contract. Finally, we voted to accept the bargaining goals presented by our bargaining committee.

Negotiations
Though we requested to begin negotiations sooner, we had our first bargaining session with administrators in the middle of October last year. Since then, we have met every other week in an effort to find common ground and come up with a fair contract that ensures an equitable work environment, while helping the administration protect the academic mission of the University. Unfortunately, this process has been slow for a variety of reasons. We have had only 15 bargaining sessions for the entire academic year, along with a few informal (non-bargaining) informational discussions. During those sessions, the responses presented by the administration reflect very little movement towards middle ground, and the span of time between sessions prevent productive discussions. We launched a petition, which a majority of student workers signed, calling on the administration to meet more frequently, so we could achieve our goal of winning a contract which would take effect next fall—a goal that has been attained at universities with similar or larger sizes and for first contracts (such as the University of Washington and the University of California system). The administration has yet to agree to sit at the table with us more frequently. In response to our petition, they have requested that we give up on fundamental rights and protections to speed up the process.

Our Goals
We have communicated our mission clearly:

We want to address the problem of harassment and discrimination by winning a fair process for survivors, which would include a neutral third party arbitrator issuing decisions.
We want a compensation package that keeps up with the cost of living, ensuring people are paid fairly for the work they perform and that we can protect our funding packages.
We want to improve the quality of our healthcare so we are not limited on the number of visits to therapists or specialists, and we want affordable dental coverage (right now we only have it if we pay for it ourselves).

Right now, our proposals reflect our starting position. To find common ground with the administration, we started at what we consider to be a “best case scenario” to then work with the administration to find the center where we can respect both our positions. We are eager to do that work.

Fighting for a contract
Today, you will be hearing about our action, called a work in, where we will be working together in the Smith Center all day, wearing our shirts to show support for our union. We want the administration to hear us clearly: it has been a year since we won our union. It’s time for our contract. Make the time to get this done now. This should not impact our work in any way (in fact, we committed this time to perform work!); however we are getting together to show that this is taking too long and we will continue to raise our voices to get a contract now. We can’t wait any longer.

Stay Informed
We want to keep you informed. While we limit these types of mass emails to once per calendar year, if you want to receive more frequent updates as we progress in bargaining, feel free to sign up for updates on our website (the box halfway down the page). We also created a Frequently Asked Questions for faculty, which you can go back to if you ever have any questions. Please let us know if there are more questions or concerns you’d like us to address on that page.

What you can do to support us
If you would like to express support for us in our contract negotiation process, we ask that you help us make clear to university administrators that our work has value, and we deserve to be compensated fairly for it.

If you wish to help us in fighting for the best contract possible and help us attract the best student workers possible feel free to reach out by responding to this email.

Thanks again for all you do. Together we can ensure that Harvard leads the way—not only in producing world-class research but also in providing a fair and equitable work environment for its workers.

HGSU-UAW Bargaining and Organizing Committee

Benefits Eligibility

While we are close to an agreement on many components of our paid leave proposal, we have key disagreement about whether family and medical leave should be paid or unpaid. The growing trend in state legislatures, including Massachusetts, is to extend paid family and medical leave to most employees. While the statute may not apply to all student workers, the University can do what other peer institutions do, and some departments here already do, and extend paid family and medical leave to its student workers.Because we are close on many components, we packaged paid leaves with our proposal on Family Friendly Benefits and Housing.

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University

Paid Leaves

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Family Friendly Benefits

We have modified our proposal to a fund for the support of children of SWs in an annual amount of $950,000 for benefit eligible SWs. It is common in many other student worker contracts to have a pool of benefits in this form. However, when comparing the proposed level of the fund to other student worker contracts, our unit is substantially larger than most other student worker unions. The University has proposed a fund in the amount of $275,000 which we believe is not enough to make a substantial difference in the budgets of student worker parents. Additionally, the university proposal limits eligibility to salaried student workers and limits reimbursements to child care expenses only. Our fund would allow the SW to apply for assistance from the fund for various needs they have as parents, not just child care costs. The parties have agreed to the continuation of the Parental Accommodation and Financial Support (PAFS) payments with annual increases, but we proposed expanding PAFS for all benefit eligible SWs, not just stipended SWs in GSAS.

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Professional Development

We propose the University make funds available to all SWs to pursue professional development activities, including but not limited to, conferences, trainings, workshops, courses, licensing, and membership in professional organizations in the amount of $2500 for all GSAS PhD and other benefit eligible doctoral SWs during the length of their degree program and $1500 for benefits eligible non-doctoral SWs during the length of their degree program. The University has declined to respond to this proposal despite the fact that such benefits are already provided to almost all GSAS PhD SWs.

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Appointment Security

We proposed that doctoral students in life sciences and physical sciences be appointed at the full TF/RA salary/stipend rate for the duration of their program, and for at least four years, not counting DCF for other doctoral students not otherwise funded. Appointments for salaried/stipended research positions shall typically be for a minimum of one year with a minimum duration of ten months. Appointments for salaried/stipended teaching positions shall typically be for one year, with a minimum duration of one semester or summer term. Appointments to hourly positions shall be through the end of the term. Should a SW be offered a position that is no longer available the SW will either be placed in a comparable position or if none is available, the SW will receive comparable compensation.

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Tuition and Fees

We have proposed that tuition and fees be covered for all PhD students. Currently, in many departments where students fund themselves by teaching, the department does not cover tuition and health fees beyond the fourth year. Since the expectation in many departments is to graduate in six years (and sometimes longer), many student workers who are not on the dissertation completion fellowship (DCF) may pay over $8,000 in fees. This puts a substantial financial burden on student workers who are doing the exact same amount of worker for the university as they did in their third and fourth years, while adding additional stress right when these students are trying to prepare for the job market. Our proposal would make it so that PhD student workers have their tuition and fees covered beyond the fourth year if they continue working, just as they currently do in their third and fourth years.

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Retirement

We proposed access to a defined contribution retirement plan into which SWs can elect to make contributions.

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Disability Insurance

We proposed long and short term disability insurance and long term care insurance.

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Employment Appointment Letter

We are close to an agreement with the University on our proposed notification to SWs of their employment appointment and the content of the letter. Where we differ is the timing of the notification. We proposed for appointments that typically start with the academic term that SWs get 3 months notice. For other appointments we proposed 6 weeks notice before the start date of the appointment; if the start date is not known, the SW would be notified as soon as feasible. We also proposed that while the SW is being notified, they are informed that the appointment is to a bargaining unit position and the notice will include the application and authorization to deduct dues/fees. It is not unusual to have union authorization forms provided by an employer at the same time as other employment related forms are provided to a newly appointed worker.

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Past Practices

This proposal preserves economic benefits and other terms and conditions of employment which were in effect and are not addressed elsewhere in the contract. If the administration wants to change a past practice, they will notify the Union and bargain to agreement over that change.

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Subcontracting

To protect the integrity of our bargaining unit, we proposed that no bargaining unit work shall be subcontracted.

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Successorship

The University agrees that, if it were to sell, lease, transfer or otherwise dispose of all or any of the University that includes any SWs, the successor will recognize HGSU and be bound by the contract.

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Workload

The posted proposal here is an early iteration of this article and we have worked with the administration and are getting closer to an agreement. We believe it is in both of our interests to define a SW’s workload to be commensurate with the SW’s compensation. We are working together to outline the workloads of RAs and TFs; when we have a more updated proposal, we will post it.

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Management Rights

An article that provides that unless modified by the terms of the agreement, the rights of the University to continue to manage its business is a standard part of a contract. The parties are negotiating what will be included in this provision.

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Union Access and Rights

This article ensures that HGSU has access to information about our members so that we can fulfill our obligation to fairly represent all SWs. The University is required by labor law to provide such information as is necessary to fully represent SWs, but the University is invoking an educational law known as FERPA to obstruct our right to information. We agreed that HGSU would not re-disclose any personally identifiable information that it receives, but the administration believes even pay rates to be an educational record. Without information about members of the bargaining unit, it is impossible to know if the contract is being followed. For example, it would be impossible for the union to verify that workers are paid the full amount they are owed under the contract. Such information has been provided to student worker unions across the country without a single FERPA issue being raised. Additionally, the university wants to restrict our access to any lab it deems necessary. We have acknowledged that some labs present safety issues, so we proposed that the Health and Safety Committee in our agreed upon Health and Safety article designate what labs or areas are restricted. Also in dispute is a common provision ensuring that a small number of SWs can act as paid union officials to ensure the smooth and fair operation of the contract. The University would restrict this to salaried SWs getting release time, discouraging participation of SWs who are in hourly positions.

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Union Security

A union security clause is a standard provision in contracts, including existing union agreements at Harvard. This article provides that members pay dues and non-members pay a fair share fee to the union. Since the National Labor Relations Act requires HGSU to fairly represent all student workers, including those who choose not to join the union, it is only fair for all SWs to pay to support this duty.

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VCAP

V-CAP is the UAW’s political action fund made up of voluntary contributions from UAW members, retirees and their families. The money is used to support pro-worker political candidates who have earned the endorsement of the UAW Community Action Program (CAP). This is a common provision in union contracts, including those at Harvard, for voluntary contributions through deduction from a SW’s pay to be made if they authorize the administration to do so.

HGSU-UAW Current Bargaining Proposals