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Harvard walked back a wage freeze and slightly raised compensation offers to custodians in a contract proposal on Wednesday in bargaining with the Service Employees International Union 32BJ.

While bargaining with the union, which represents 800 custodians at Harvard, University negotiators offered a four-year wage scheme that would include a one percent wage increase in July 2026 — up by $0.29 per hour — followed by subsequent increases of 2.3 percent, 2.6 percent, and 3.1 percent. The increases would be accompanied by a signing bonus of up to $750.

The offers are marginally higher than those offered under a proposal last week — which stipulated a wage freeze in the first year of the contract and 2 percent increases in following years — but still far below the union’s initial requests of 8.7 percent, 7 percent, and 7 percent. Only the final year increase in the University’s Wednesday offer matches inflation, which has hovered at roughly 3 percent since 2023.

The union’s current contract with Harvard expires on Nov. 15, and bargaining began in early October. The University’s Wednesday proposal, obtained by The Crimson, suggests there is room for multiple unions currently negotiating contracts to make headway even as the University faces a budget deficit.

Multiple bargaining committee members told The Crimson that they were disappointed with Harvard’s proposals so far. Union spokesperson Franklin Soults confirmed that the union would not be accepting Harvard’s most recent proposal.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment, referring The Crimson to a Nov. 6 statement that explained the economic offers were made “in light of current financial challenges.”

“Harvard’s custodial workers are valued members of our community who enable teaching and research in critical ways,” he wrote.

The offer marks progress in the fastest-paced set of union negotiations currently underway at Harvard. While non-tenure-track faculty received a wage proposal last month, there has been no movement since — and the union said it is not likely to respond to Harvard’s proposal until worker titles and classifications had been cemented.

Alongside increasing wage offers, the University also agreed to the union’s initial requests for contributions to its healthcare fund, agreeing to pay $1,555, $1,602, and $1,649 into the union fund in the first three years of an agreement and no more than 6 percent subsequently.

Workers can choose to opt into a union health plan instead of Harvard’s employer-provided healthcare. Under the union contract, Harvard is required to contribute a fixed amount to the union’s health fund annually to defray the costs of union insurance.

Harvard’s proposals on immigration also offer unpaid leaves of absence to workers who are unable to work due to “bona fide” immigration and work authorization issues. The University also agreed not to take “adverse employment action” against workers if their provided information is not found in the social security database unless required by law.

While other campus unions have similar language in their contracts, immigration issues are a particular concern for custodians because many of them are international workers.

Union leaders have also touted a proposal for a joint union-employer legal fund for workers. In the Oct. 7 proposal, the union asked for $14.63 per month per worker to be contributed to the fund, with funds disbursed to workers at the discretion of the fund’s trustees.

But Harvard bypassed union involvement entirely in its counter, instead offering to contribute a one-time payment of $200 per worker for a “legal services fund,” which could be used “at the discretion of the employee.”

Harvard did not include a pension fund in their package proposal to the union, despite custodians’ earlier demands for contributions to such a fund.

Newton declined to comment on why Harvard opted to propose a four-year contract on Wednesday, despite offering one-year and three-year compensation options last week. The union originally proposed a three-year contract.

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at hugo.chiasson@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.
—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at amann.mahajan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.