![A protest image posted on the Harvard graduate student union website. [Photo=Harvard graduate student union website]](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2026/04/22/20260422091406603081.jpg)
A union representing Harvard University graduate students who work as teaching fellows, student mentors and research assistants has gone on strike, the Boston Globe reported April 21.
The union began the strike at 12 a.m., halting work that includes teaching, grading, mentoring and research, the report said. Members held pickets across campus later in the morning.
The union said it has negotiated with the university for 14 months over a new contract without progress. It is seeking a minimum annual salary of $55,000, but the university has offered a 2.5% annual increase, the union said.
The union said some members earn about $26,000 a year. It also wants the minimum hourly wage for part-time workers raised to $25 from $21. Some students have argued that doctoral students are paid less than those at the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Provost John Manning disputed the union’s claims, saying doctoral students receive $425,000 in support over five years, including tuition and insurance, and that the living-stipend portion amounts to more than $50,000 a year.
The union is also seeking paid leave for international students to attend immigration-related government appointments and stronger legal support for noncitizens facing risks of detention and deportation.
Will Golay, an astronomy doctoral student who attended the protest, said only one of the union’s 23 demands has been settled and the rest remain in dispute. “We are striking not only over the bargaining agenda, but to urge Harvard (administrators) to come to the table and negotiate in good faith,” he said.
Union chair Sarah Speller and vice chair Sudipa Saha wrote in an email to the campus April 17 that the decision to strike was not made lightly. “We love teaching and research and that’s why we’re here, but we can’t deliver the world’s best classes when we can’t pay rent or child care, or when we face harassment at work or the risk of detention,” they wrote.
About 60% of union members are doctoral students, many of whom receive living stipends because they teach. The union estimates its membership at 4,000, while the university counts 1,300 graduate students who pay union dues.
The two sides are also disputing the status of 800 graduate students who receive stipends while doing research instead of teaching. The university argues that research done for one’s degree is not employment.
The strike is expected to last at least eight days. The Harvard Crimson reported the next bargaining session is scheduled for April 28.
Separately, Boston 25 reported that Harvard’s non-tenure-track faculty union, after 18 months of stalled talks, plans to hold a strike authorization vote.
WGBH reported that since forming in 2018, Harvard’s graduate student union has struck twice, in 2019 and 2021. The current walkout is the first in about 4 1/2 years, since October 2021. The union struck for three days in 2021, then returned to work and prepared for a second strike before approving a labor agreement in November 2021, the Harvard Crimson reported.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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