Harvard Graduate Students Threaten to Authorize Strike

Members of a Harvard graduate student-worker union are threatening to hold a strike authorization vote if the university doesn’t change its posture in negotiations over a collective contract, more than 300 members said in a letter to the university president.

The vote would be a preliminary move—a “yes” would give leadership authority to call for the group to strike when they believe it’s warranted—but it’s significant nonetheless.

There’s been a marked increase in organizing among adjunct and full-time university faculty and student-workers since about 2016, when the National Labor Relations Board said student assistants can be considered legal “employees” with ...