Campus Quiet After HUDS Agreement Reached

Union members bargained throughout the night Monday before finally coming to an agreement around 1 a.m Tuesday. After negotiations wrapped up, Brian Lang, president of UNITE HERE Local 26—the Boston-based union representing Harvard’s dining workers—said the agreement “accomplished all of our goals.” Full details of the contract will be released before the vote, according to Local 26 spokesperson Tiffany Ten Eyck.

But the strike, now more than 20 days long, is technically ongoing.

Though the accord marks the closest the two parties have come to an agreement in nearly five months, HUDS employees must ratify the contract before they can officially return to work in dining halls and cafes across campus.

A picket sign from UNITE Here Local 26, the Boston-based union representing Harvard's dining services workers, was propped outside of Annenberg earlier this month. By Savannah I. Whaley

Harvard Executive Vice President Katie Lapp wrote in an email to Harvard affiliates Tuesday that the agreement will be a five-year contract, if ratified. The union will announce the results of the vote around 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to a press release.

While picketing HUDS workers and student supporters alike await the vote’s outcome, some undergraduates said the atmosphere on campus felt subdued—picket lines abuzz with protesters for nearly three weeks were deserted, and Harvard Yard, once filled with chants of “No justice, no peace!” was silent. According to Ten Eyck, picketing was officially suspended throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, though a few workers reported briefly to their stations early Tuesday morning.

“It definitely feels a little strange because it’s kind of like this weird lull in the moment,” Jose D. Perez ’18 said as he crossed Harvard Yard Tuesday afternoon. “I’m curious to see how it feels afterwards, if there’s any tensions left over, so that should be interesting to watch.”

According to an email sent to Pforzheimer House residents by the House’s Faculty Deans Tuesday evening, HUDS workers will likely return to the dining halls Thursday and spend a day restocking the facilities before normal operations resume next Monday.

Sabrina Wu ’20 said she also found campus unexpectedly quiet, noting “there doesn’t seem to be a lot of talk” about the strike ending. She said she thought students would be glad when HUDS workers return to the dining halls, though many currently appear indifferent.

“Perhaps that is why the atmosphere on campus appears less celebratory than on social media,” she wrote in an email.

Both Perez and Wu said they were personally glad to hear HUDS employees would likely be returning to work.

Members of the Student Labor Action Movement, the student activist group that orchestrated undergraduate efforts to support the strike, also said they were happy that the two parties reached an agreement. Some SLAM affiliates expressed concern, however, that the lengthy strike—during which picketing workers received just $40 a day from the union’s strike fund—would take its toll.

“A lot of workers were without pay, and they’re still suffering the consequences of that,” Itzel L. Vasquez-Rodriguez ’17 said. “It’s something that’s serious and we’ll have to take a look into.”

Grace F. Evans ’19 added that it was “pretty unimaginable that low income workers did not receive an income for 21 days.”

Still, in a post on the group’s Facebook page, SLAM praised the “thousands of students” who supported the strike and the workers who continued to picket throughout.

“Together, we proved that worker power is unstoppable, student power is unstoppable, and a united community can't be beat,” the post read.

—Staff writer Brandon J. Dixon can be reached at brandon.dixon@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonJoDixon.

—Staff writer Hannah Natanson can be reached at hannah.natanson@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @hannah_natanson.