Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Harvard Graduate Students End 40‑Day Strike Without Contract

The pause preserves union leverage as negotiations resume with meetings set for June.

Overview

  • A majority of participating members voted to suspend the strike, with more than 81 percent approving the move on Monday and union leaders calling it a tactical pause rather than a full settlement.
  • Harvard offered a May package that expanded benefits to more graduate workers, added dental coverage for some Ph.D. students, and increased its multi‑year pay proposal by one percentage point.
  • Key union demands remained unsettled when the walkout ended, including higher wages, a formal discrimination and harassment grievance process, and explicit protections for non‑citizen student workers.
  • The 40‑day stoppage interrupted classes, grading, shipments and laboratory research, and the university hired temporary staff to submit grades after many teaching fellows’ appointments expired over the weekend.
  • Bargaining will continue with representatives scheduled to meet June 9 and June 23, and the union said members are prepared to resume pressure if talks do not yield a fair contract.