Harvard graduate students picket as union goes on strike

Source: WBUR

By Suevon Lee April 21, 2026

Harvard’s graduate student workers went on strike Tuesday morning, demanding higher pay, greater protections for non-citizen employees and an improved grievance process for workplace harassment.

The union represents about 4,000 graduate student workers. Dozens of them picketed outside the Science Center in Cambridge on Tuesday morning, holding signs and chanting slogans such as, “Harvard, pay your working scholars, you’ve got 50 billion dollars,” a reference to the institution’s endowment.

Negotiations between the union and administration have been taking place since last February. The most recent contract expired in June.

Still unresolved are nearly two dozen proposals in this latest contract.


Graduate Students protest outside the Science Center at Harvard University. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR

Read more: https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/04/21/harvard-graduate-student-union-strike