Harvard University is one of the leading employers in Massachusetts, with a demonstrated commitment to providing all of our 6,000 unionized employees with:
- fair, competitive wages
- comprehensive, high-quality benefits that help insure their health, well-being, and financial security
- child care scholarships and work/life supports
- subsidized or free educational and skill-building opportunities that allow them to improve the quality of their lives and their long-term economic and job prospects
Harvard has a decades-long record of constructive and mutually productive negotiations with our nine campus unions. In our labor relations, our aim is to ensure that Harvard’s represented employees receive total compensation that is fair, market-driven, and internally equitable while also being responsible and accountable in our use of resources.
These workplace policies and benefits have been adopted by Harvard help to provide security and educational opportunities for our unionized and lower-wage employees:
- The Wage & Benefits Parity Policy (WBPP), adopted in 2002 and reviewed at regular intervals, requires campus contractors and vendors to pay wages and benefits to their workers that are at least comparable to those paid to unionized Harvard employees in like jobs, which ensures that outsourcing cannot be used to undermine our obligations as a good employer;
- We have significantly increased pay and made steady progress in conversion to full-time employment for our lowest paid service employees: custodians, parking workers and dining service workers;
- Harvard provides a free worker education and English language literacy program – the Harvard Bridge Program, which is open to all unionized employees and entry-level workers, including part-time and contractor employees at the University;
- Subsidized health insurance program available to service employees who work as few as 16 hours a week.