Custodians represented by the Service Employees International Union 32BJ march through Harvard Yard on Monday, the first day of their strike.

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Updated November 17, 2025, at 11:13 p.m.

Harvard custodians launched a strike shortly after 10 a.m. on Monday after union negotiations broke down on the eve of their contract’s expiration, their first strike in at least 50 years.

Roughly 60 workers, who are represented by the Service Employees International Union 32BJ, began picketing in Harvard Yard and outside Harvard Medical School. According to a union press release, the strike is planned to last through Tuesday, when contracted custodial staff are encouraged to stop work and picket.

But unlike most strikes, workers represented by the union did not vote to authorize the action.

32BJ Executive Vice President Kevin Brown said the union bypassed the usual vote in a Saturday meeting because the bargaining committee was unanimous in its disapproval of Harvard’s proposals presented at a Thursday bargaining session.

Custodians voted to authorize a strike during negotiations in 2016, but they reached an agreement before workers headed to the picket lines.

Because the custodians’ contract expired on Saturday, they have the option to strike for a new agreement. But with no vote, it is unclear how many of Harvard’s 800 custodians will walk off the job across both days. One bargaining committee member said it was difficult to convince custodians at his worksite to take their shift off, so they only rallied during their lunch break.

Several dozen workers began picketing Monday morning in the Yard and at HMS — a small fraction of the 500 directly employed custodians on campus.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in a statement that the University “is taking steps to minimize disruption to services across campus.”

“We are also actively engaging union leadership and have offered additional meeting times so we can continue the negotiations, in good faith, toward a fair contract, beneficial to all,” he wrote. According to Brown, Harvard reached out with dates for bargaining sessions on Monday, and the two parties will likely meet Wednesday.

The strike comes after contract negotiations, which began Oct. 7, broke down last week.

Harvard had slightly raised its compensation offer from an initial one-year wage freeze proposal, but the two sides hit a wall on Thursday.

During the all-day marathon session — meant to help both parties secure an agreement before workers’ contract expired on Saturday — the University did not budge substantially on its economic offers, and union members walked out of the session in protest.

After Harvard increased its wage offer on Wednesday by 0.9 percent on average, the union lowered its request from a 7.6 percent to 6.3 percent average wage increase over the contract’s duration.

But Harvard stayed firm on its Wednesday wage offers, according to a copy of its latest proposal obtained by The Crimson. Harvard negotiators did raise the per-worker signing bonus from $750 to $1000 and a per-worker legal fund contribution from $200 to $250 on Thursday. But the union has called for larger wage increases that consistently keep up with inflation, which has remained around 3 percent since 2023.

During the rally, workers marched around Harvard Yard chanting “Harvard cleaners, on strike!” before making a loop past Harvard Law School and the Northwest Building.

Custodian Roxana Lopez, who left her shift in Harvard Yard Monday morning, said that it’s been difficult for her to keep up with food and mortgage costs. Along with car insurance and parking fees — she drives in from Lynn, Massachusetts daily — the expenses have skyrocketed, she said.

Alongside stronger benefits, Lopez said she hoped for heftier workplace protections and training to prevent worker injuries.

“It’s hard work cleaning,” she said. “It’s very hard work, and they don’t appreciate what we do every day.”

Oscar Sola, who left his shift at Pierce Hall in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, also pointed to parking expenses, but added that workloads have increased since the pandemic.

At a rally last week, roughly 100 workers and union organizers gathered in front of the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard, calling on the University to provide more substantial wage increases.

Brown wrote in a Thursday statement that it was “insulting that the most prestigious university in the world is unwilling to provide their essential workers the wages and benefits they need to support themselves and their families.”

“Harvard needs to come to the table with real dollars, not lip service,” he added.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton confirmed that the University and the union are working on organizing future bargaining sessions, but he declined to comment on the Thursday session and rally.

He instead referred The Crimson to a Nov. 6 statement that the University’s economic proposals to the union reflected “current financial challenges and ongoing uncertainty.”

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

—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.