Harvard University Evades Second Strike; Janitors' Union Reportedly Reaches Deal

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Following late-night negotiations, Harvard University has avoided a second strike in as many months, reportedly reaching a tentative agreement with the campus janitors' union early Wednesday morning.

Union 32BJ SEIU said last week that its 700-strong members voted to authorize their bargaining committee to call for a strike if they do not reach an agreement with Harvard by Tuesday. Their contract was set to expire at midnight.

The Boston Globe reports the tentative agreement was reached "well past" that deadline, emerging after 1 a.m. with premium-free health care, a commitment to creating more full-time jobs and a 12.5 percent raise that will result in average wages of $24.61/hour for workers at by the end of the four-year contract.

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Had they failed to reach an agreement, Harvard would have contended with its second strike in a month. UNITE HERE Local 26, which represents the union dining hall workers, recently staged a walkout that ended Oct. 26.

Also in motion Wednesday is a vote to potentially unionize graduate students, a first for the private university here and for similar schools across the country.

According to Massachusetts' congressional delegation, which shared its support in a statement Wednesday, "In August, the National Labor Relations Board reversed a decade-old decision, giving graduate student workers at private universities the right to form a union. And today, graduate students at Harvard University will be the first students after the NLRB's historic decision to exercise their right to vote to be represented by a union."

An agreement with the school, reached in late October, calls for an election Nov. 16-17, which would formally allow grad students who teach and do research at Harvard to form a union.

Image via James MH, Flickr/Creative Commons