Working Groups & Committees
We take on and win fights that matter to workers because of rank-and-file engagement, strategizing and organizing. Much of this work happens in our working groups and committees, which you can learn about below.
Most working groups and committees meet on a weekly or biweekly basis–many have channels on our slack or other chats that you can join to learn more. If you’d like to get involved, reach out to the contacts listed in the descriptions below or email hgsu.general@gmail.com.
Feminist Working Group
Feminist Working Group (FWG) is a community of organizers working towards intersectional feminist goals. We are committed to fighting for protections against harassment and discrimination for all student workers. We work to enforce the protections granted within our union contract and to educate student workers about their contractual rights and resources. Beyond the contract, we also push for additional protections. This is achieved through collaboration with groups both within and outside Harvard that work to prevent identity-based and power-based harassment and to provide recourse to survivors. We are always looking for new members to get involved on projects — reach us at hgsu.fwg@gmail.com!
Racial Justice Working Group
The Racial Justice Working Group fights white supremacy at Harvard and the surrounding area. More info forthcoming.
International Scholars Working Group
HGSU’s International Scholars Working Group formed in response to Trump’s Muslim ban, which impacted many Harvard student workers. ISWG was able to pressure and work with the Harvard administration and Massachusetts elected officials to address cases of student workers being denied entry or detained at the border. As we settle into life under a new contract, ISWG will continue to take on a crisis organizing role as necessary, while also building community amongst international student workers and ensuring that international student workers’ contract rights are respected.
Solidarity Committee
Our Local has been supported by a broad coalition of labor organizations since we went on strike for our first contract, and we strive to do the same for our fellow workers in the broader labor movement. Our Committee strategizes solidarity actions with other unions on campus and locally in coordination with local labor councils, and supports labor struggles across the nation through negotiations, policy work, and political advocacy.
Email us at hgsu.solidarity@gmail.com to get involved!
Governance and Participation Committee
The Governance and Participation Committee fosters democratic involvement by our union’s rank and file. More info forthcoming.
Finance and Benefits Committee
The Finance and Benefits Committee (FBC) is in charge of two critical functions for our union – we administer the Benefit Funds created by our contract with Harvard, and advise the Executive Board on matters related to our budget and spending. In practice, the majority of our time is spent on the former task. We help guide members through the process applying and getting the most out of the funds and other Harvard benefits, and then review and process hundreds of applications for reimbursement each cycle. While it’s certainly a big job with a lot of spreadsheets, we get to be the ones to tell our colleagues that they’re going to receive hundreds (sometimes thousands!) of dollars in benefits, and we love it! Don’t worry if this sounds unfamiliar to you, we on-board and train all of our new members, and always welcome new faces. Contact hgsu.finance@gmail.com and hgsu.benefits@gmail.com with any questions or if you’d just like to sit in on a meeting a see what it’s like.
Contract Education and Enforcement Committee
Our Contract Enforcement and Education Committee (CEEC) is a group of HGSU members who are committed to helping enforce and educate student workers about our contractual rights, protections, and benefits. All members of the committee are trained grievance handlers, which means that they are able to help support you with any workplace issues you may be having with care and the utmost concern for privacy. We are experienced with formal grievances as well as finding informal solutions to workplace issues. If you would like to get in touch, please submit a workplace issue form here or email our secure email account hgsu.grievance@protonmail.com. Please be assured that getting in touch with us does not automatically initiate anything formal – we are happy to meet simply to talk about your issues and your options, and we will never take any actions without your explicit consent.
Communications Commitee
The Communications Committee organizes member and public facing communications put out by the union. From retweets to graphics to your favorite Tiktok videos, Comms takes the vital pieces of information about the union and turns them into fun digestible snippets to share with your friends. We especially need people with graphic design or social media talent. Email the Recording Secretary at hgsu.records@gmail.com to get involved!
