HUCTW’s contract negotiations around salary increases for members continue to be extremely challenging. We are asking members and other Harvard community friends across the University to send email messages to the highest administrative leaders of their Harvard departments, expressing concern about pay negotiations and describing why it’s important for HUCTW members receive a fair raise that provides protection from high inflation and recognizes us for our contributions.
WHY are we asking you to email Harvard leaders?
HUCTW members are struggling to pay their rent, bills, and basic monthly costs due to historically high inflation and management raise proposals don’t come close to keeping up with inflation rates, which continues to stay high. Management proposals are far below the rate of inflation (which has been averaging around 7% over the last year) and come nowhere close to providing the kind of financial security that we need.
Additionally, Harvard’s offers are not competitive with other comparable employers. According to our research, salary increases delivered in 2022 by other private or unionized employers are averaging between 4.8% to 6.3% for 2022. Harvard’s 2022 raise offers fall below these averages. You can read more about our employer wage comparison research (drawing from well-respected resources such as the Department of Labor and Bloomberg Law) on the HUCTW website.
ACTION STEP: Send an email to Harvard leaders
In order to keep constructive pressure on administrators around pay negotiations, we hope you will join your colleagues across the campus by sending your own email message to the senior leaders of your school or department, letting them know that you support HUCTW’s negotiation goals for a fair raise program. Some possible themes include:
- If you’re are an HUCTW member, you could share some of the challenges you/your family are facing as a result of high inflation – increasing prices of groceries, housing, gas and utilities, dependent care – and difficult choices that result.
- Ways in which you and your co-workers have gone above and beyond to help the University maintain high quality education and research despite COVID disruptions and staffing shortages.
- The importance of a pay program that shows respect for staff members’ talents and contributions and creates sustainable Harvard jobs.
- You can use this sample email to help with your message, if it’s useful, but it would be great if you could convey your own personal concerns in your message.
- If you’re a Harvard community friend not in HUCTW (faculty member, student, member of another union, exempt staff member, alum, retiree…), you could let Harvard administrators know that you believe HUCTW staff deserve the stablity and dignity of raises that keep up with inflation and the cost of living in the Boston-area, and/or that you value HUCTW members’ contributions to the Harvard community. HUCTW’s 5,000 staff work in every Harvard department and help to facilitate almost every aspect of teaching, research, and campus life at Harvard. Here’s a sample emailyou can use to get you started.
WHO should you send your email to?
We are asking members and friends to write the directly to the deans and VPs of their schools and departments, but if you prefer you can write to any or all of the following Harvard senior leaders, who play a broader role in Harvard leadership:
| Meredith Weenick | Harvard’s Executive Vice President | meredith_weenick@harvard.edu |
| Alan Garber | Harvard’s Provost | alan_garber@harvard.edu |
| Manuel Cuevas-Trisan | Harvard’s VP for Human Resources | manuel_cuevas-trisan@harvard.edu |
Please also send a cc to: huctw.info@huctw.org
