Interim President Garber’s Uneasy Relationship With Harvard Unions
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Yael S. Goldstein 0:03
From Plympton Street. This is Season Two of Newstalk. I'm Yael Goldstein. After former Harvard President Claudian Gay's resignation, Alan Garber became Harvard's interim president. But labor unions on campus have voiced reservations about Garber and his new position. Today, our reporters join us to dive into Garber's relationships with the union organizers and discuss what concerns remain.
Sheerea X. Yu 0:29
I'm Sheerea X. Yu and I cover labor for the Harvard Crimson
Aran Sonnad-Joshi 0:33
I'm Aran Sonnad-Joshi. I also cover labor for the Harvard Crimson.
Yael S. Goldstein 0:36
Thank you so much for joining me, Sheerea and Aran. I want to start by understanding how interim president and provost Alan Garber interacts with labor union activity on campus. What relationship has he had with the Harvard Graduate Student Union in his capacity as an administrator thus far in his career?
Sheerea X. Yu 0:55
So one of the biggest players on campus is Harvard's Graduate Student Union HGSU-UAW. In 2016, they had a big run-in with Garber when they were trying to form for the first time. A number of graduate student workers were left off the voter roll, and the vote failed and the union was not able to be formed. The union organizers filed a case with the National Labor Relations Board saying that it wasn't correct. And they ended up winning that case. So then there was a redo of that vote, which they then won. But Garber sent out emails to students, to union members to organizers, and the consensus was that he never wanted them to form in the first place. And that sort of just defined the relationship from there.
Aran Sonnad-Joshi 1:45
At least as far as the Student Union goes, Alan Garber has historically been the lead administrator in those negotiations. So while he hasn't directly interacted at the bargaining table, he's involved in closed-door conversations. The provost's office has always had a presentative at the table, and he operates somewhat from a distance but definitely has always had a hand in the situation.
Yael S. Goldstein 2:12
I'd like to get a better sense of how union members have felt about their interactions with Garber. What is their unique perspective on negotiating with this administration?
Sheerea X. Yu 2:23
Basically, several of our sources have said working with the university's bargaining team under Garber's tenure as provost, was a really frustrating affair. Some of our sources say that he deliberately slow-walks in negotiations.
Aran Sonnad-Joshi 2:37
Union members have expressed frustration with an administration that seems to be both, in their opinion, behind closed doors and publicly opposed to what they're trying to do.
Yael S. Goldstein 2:49
So I'm curious about how current union members have reacted to Garber's new position at Harvard's helm. And how do they see this influencing future union negotiations?
Aran Sonnad-Joshi 2:59
The position right now is somewhat unclear, in that the union's current contract is set to expire, I believe in 2025. So at some point in the not-too-distant future, they're going to begin bargaining again. And what they're considering is rehashing some of the old issues that came up during previous bargaining sessions, things like real recourse. What we heard is that they're not really going to change their bargaining strategies going forward, they're still going to try to first survey their members to see what demands union members want, and then go forward with those demands. So union leaders are not super happy to be dealing with Garber in his new role, given their previous history.
Yael S. Goldstein 3:44
Thank you so much, Syria and Iran for joining me to talk about the relationship between the labor unions on campus and current interim president Alan Garber.
Sheerea X. Yu 3:54
Thank you so much.
Yael S. Goldstein 3:56
Thank you. This episode of Newstalk was hosted and produced by Yael S. Goldstein. Our Multimedia Chairs are Julian J. Giordano and Addison Y. Liu. Our Associate Managing Editors are Claire Yuan, and Elias J. Schisgall. Our Managing Editor is Miles J. Herszenhorn. Our President is J. Sellers Hill. From Plympton Street, this is Newstalk.
