Harvard Raises Wage Offer, Expands Benefits as Grad Student Strike Enters Second Week
Source: The Crimson
By Noah A. Ferris, Crimson Staff Writer
3 hours ago
Harvard increased its wage offer and proposed a new package of graduate student benefits Tuesday, marking the first major movement at the bargaining table since the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers launched an indefinite strike last week.
The offer, announced in an email to faculty, would raise salaried student worker compensation by 11 percent over four years — up from Harvard’s previous 10 percent proposal. The raises would include a 2.75 percent increase upon ratification, a 3.25 percent increase on July 1, and 2.5 percent raises at the start of each of the following two academic years.
The offer still falls short of the union’s wage proposal, which has called for a 12 percent increase to base salaries upon ratification followed by 5 percent raises each year of the contract — a structure that would result in significantly larger cumulative pay increases than Harvard’s latest offer.
Harvard also proposed giving salaried HGSU-UAW members access to a subsidized legal services plan, including immigration-related legal services, at the same rate offered to Harvard’s full-time employees.
Members of the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers picket outside a bargaining session for Harvard Undergraduate Workers Union-United Auto Workers on Friday. Harvard presented a new wage and benefits proposal Tuesday. | By Mae T. Weir
Read more: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/29/harvard-offers-benefits-strike-bargaining/