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More than 120 members and supporters of five Harvard unions at different stages of contract negotiations with the University gathered for contracts and benefits outside the statue of John Harvard at Harvard Yard on Tuesday, chanting, “What do we want? Contracts! When do we want them? Now!”
The union of guards and security agents 32BJ SEIU; Harvard Graduate Student Union – United Auto Workers; Harvard Office and Technical Employees Union; Harvard University Security, Parking and Museum Guards Union; and the catering workers union UNITE HERE Local 26 organized the rally.
Local 26 reached a tentative agreement with the university on Friday after four months of negotiations, according to Local 26 executive vice-president Michael Kramer. HUCTW and HGSU-UAW have been negotiating for four months and six months, respectively. The HUSPMGU is in the process of planning bargaining sessions, according to the President of the HUSPMGU, Curt E. Rheault. According to 32BJ SEIU Vice President Roxana L. Rivera, 32BJ will head to the bargaining table in October.
HGSU-UAW Vice President Marisa J. Borreggine and 32BJ SEIU Member and Guardian Nilton de Jesus introduced the speakers throughout the rally, starting with Kramer and Steward Aaron J. Duckett. Although the union has already reached a tentative deal with Harvard, Kramer said, Local 26 is still supporting other unions in their negotiations.
“It is an agreement that protects our jobs and addresses the fundamental concerns we have engaged in these negotiations,” Kramer said at the rally. “But it’s not done, because again, it’s not just the unity of our members. It is the unity of the 12,000 workers represented here.
HUCTW Recording Secretary Danielle Boudrow said HUCTW members have found “creative solutions” to complete the job despite the hurdles created by the pandemic and deserve increased compensation.
“We paid for the office furniture out of our own budget,” she said. “We have put in hundreds of additional hours to complete Harvard’s mission. HUCTW members deserve salary increases and benefits that recognize our efforts and help us move forward in our lives. “
According to university spokesperson Jason A. Newton, Harvard provided $ 40 million to inactive workers and $ 15 million to inactive contract workers from March 2020 to April 2021 in compensation and benefits and extended by 70 % the salary of inactive employees until the end of the year. Schools and individual units determine the wages of inactive contract workers.
Rheault, the president of the HUSPMGU, then spoke at the rally of the merger proposal HUSPMGU and HUCTW. Harvard rejected merger proposals in 2016 and in 2019, citing political concerns.
“You say, ‘Well, why does it take five years? ”, Said Rheault. “It’s because we only have eighty people in our bargaining unit, and that’s also why Harvard can try to take advantage of us.”
In an interview after the rally, Rheault said the merger with HUCTW, a union representing more than 5,000 people, would give more bargaining power to HUSPMGU, a union of eighty workers.
“They won’t let us join HUCTW, and we really don’t have a lot of purchasing power to get the salaries we need,” he said.
Massachusetts State Representative Mike Connolly; Cambridge city councilors Marc McGovern, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler and Quinton Y. Zondervan; Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui; Waltham City Councilor Jonathan Paz; and Boston city councilors Kenzie Bok and Lydia Edwards spoke on behalf of the workers.
“This sense of solidarity, this sense of worker organization at Harvard – it’s a beacon of hope for workers across the country,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said.
Rivera, vice president of 32BJ, then spoke about the importance of union solidarity, leading chants in English and Spanish. Dominick De Loretta, a safety officer at Harvard, raised concerns about healthcare and reiterated the need for a contract.
“How can we be in the best country in the world, work for the biggest university in the world, but not have the best contract in the world? De Loretta asked.
Several speakers mentioned that, unlike other unions on campus, the current HGSU-UAW contract does not provide for a grievance process for sexual harassment and discrimination that ends in third-party arbitration. The University proposed in August an appeal procedure for certain types of non-sex discrimination which could lead to neutral arbitration.
HGSU-UAW President Brandon J. Mancilla said inter-union conversations began when Harvard unions realized many of their issues were similar.
“We were talking about negotiations and we all realized, ‘Hey, we have real struggles and we need to talk to each other,’ he said.
Jen L. Cruz, HGSU-UAW member, spoke about graduate students union issues at the bargaining table. Cruz spoke about the union’s proposal to remove the pay gap for School of Public Health scholarship recipients and Harvard’s acceptance of the proposal.
Tarina K. Ahuja ’24 wrote that she decided to attend the rally after hearing about it on the Grade 1 Urban Program mailing list.
“Harvard workers – HUDS staff, wardens, museum workers, graduate students, librarians – these are the people who take care of us and teach us,” she wrote. “It is our duty to be unequivocal in solidarity with them and to amplify them in this fight.”
—Writer Cara J. Chang contributed reporting.
– Editor Meimei Xu can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @ meimeixu7.
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