The Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU) is a local union (Local 5118) of the United Auto Workers that represents graduate students working as teaching and research assistants at Harvard University. ¹ It engages in left-wing social and political activism, including opposition to Israel and support for Palestinian nationalism.  ^{2  3}

HGSU members have gone on strike three times in the union’s relatively short history, first during the union’s first contract negotiations in 2019 and then twice in 2021 during renewal negotiations. ^{4  5  2}

Activism

The HGSU is highly active in left-wing social issue advocacy. ² Its standing Racial Justice Working Group committee “fights white supremacy at Harvard and the surrounding area.” ⁶

In 2024, it participated in a “Books Not Bombs” event promoting increased federal education spending organized by Massachusetts Peace Action and co-sponsored by AFT Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and the Our Revolution activism group formed after the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). ⁷

Anti-Israel Activities

The Harvard Graduate Students Union supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel. ³

The union has actively supported Palestinian nationalism and criticized Israeli actions and policy following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza. ³

In May 2024, Harvard threatened students affiliated with Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) with “involuntary leaves” and other disciplinary measures if they did not close an anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian encampment on Harvard Yard in time for the area to be used for the university’s commencement ceremonies. ⁸ Some HGSU members were among the disciplined students, and the HGSU filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that claimed the university’s efforts to police the encampment, as well as the university’s connections to Israel in general, created “unsafe working conditions” for union members involved in the protests. ⁹

The union withdrew the complaint in February 2025 over reported concerns that it would give the Trump administration NRLB an opportunity to make a precedential ruling counter to union interests. ⁹

Conflicts Over Membership

Since its inception, the Harvard Graduate Students Union has battled the university over which graduate students meet the legal requirements to qualify for membership in the union. The conflicts have been complicated by shifting National Labor Relations Board rulings on graduate student unionization. ¹⁰

In 2024, an arbitrator ruled that Harvard had wrongfully excluded 70 graduate students in the university’s psychology Ph.D. program from union membership. ¹¹ In July 2025, Harvard appealed the arbitrator’s decision in federal district court. ¹²

In July 2025, Harvard announced that it would remove more than 800 students from the HGSU in line with a 2023 National Labor Relations Board ruling that clarified the employment status of graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ^{13  14  15} The decision affected roughly 15 percent of the union’s existing membership. ¹⁶

The NLRB had ruled that simply receiving fellowship stipends from or through universities did not qualify graduate students as employees when the graduate students were performing research or teaching duties as a requirement toward their degrees rather than in return for specific compensation. ¹³ Harvard’s leadership informed the HGSU that it had identified more than 800 graduate students meeting these conditions who were members of the union, and that it would no longer consider them represented by the union, saying “Harvard has never agreed that non-employees should be included in the unit.”  ¹⁶

1. “HGSU-UAW.” Harvard Graduate Student Union. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://harvardgradunion.org/.
2. “About Us.” Harvard Graduate Student Union. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://harvardgradunion.org/about-2/.
3. Kettles, Cam E. “Harvard Grad Union Endorses BDS and Calls for Ceasefire, Drawing Member Criticism.” The Harvard Crimson, November 13, 2023. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/11/13/hgsu-bds-statement/.
4. Bolotnikova, Marina N. “Harvard Graduate Students Go on Strike.” Harvard Magazine, December 16, 2019. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2019/12/grad-student-strike.
5. Xu, Meimei, and Cara J. Chang. “Harvard and Grad Student Union Reach Tentative Contract Agreement, Members Voting on Whether to Continue Strike.” The Harvard Crimson, November 16, 2021. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/11/16/harvard-hgsu-tentative-agreement/.
6. “Working Groups & Committees.” Harvard Graduate Student Union. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://harvardgradunion.org/wgs-and-committees/.
7. “Books Not Bombs 2024: Increasing Federal Investment in Public Education.” Massachusetts Peace Action. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20241014174603/https:/masspeaceaction.org/event/books-not-bombs-increasing-federal-investment-in-public-education/.
8. Kim, Joyce E., and Jo B. Lemann. “Harvard out of Occupied Palestine Ends Harvard Yard Encampment.” The Harvard Crimson, May 14, 2024. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/5/14/harvard-encampment-ends/.
9. Mahajan, Amann S., and Hugo C. Chiasson. “Graduate Students’ Union Withdraws Unfair Labor Practice Charge Alleging Encampment Surveillance.” The Harvard Crimson, February 5, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/2/5/hgsu-withdraws-labor-complaint/.
10. “NLRB FACT SHEET: Are Students at Private Colleges and Universities ‘Employees’ Under the Act?” National Labor Relations Board, 2019. https://www.nlrb.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/node-1212/student-assistants-fact-sheet.pdf.
11. Yu, Sheerea X., and Aran Sonnad-Joshi. “Harvard Violated Contract with HGSU in Excluding Some Grad Students, Arbitrator Rules.” The Harvard Crimson, July 3, 2024. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/7/3/hgsu-psych-grad-students-arbitrator-ruling/.
12. Mahajan, Amann S. “Harvard Appeals Decision Requiring Inclusion of Psych Students in Grad Union for the Second Time.” The Harvard Crimson, June 30, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/6/30/psych-students-appeal/.
13. “Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Case Number 01-RC-304042.” National Labor Relations Board, September 26, 2020. https://www.nlrb.gov/case/01-RC-304042.
14. Nobles, Melissa, and Cynthia Barnhart. “NLRB Decision on Fellows.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, March 14, 2023. https://grad-union.mit.edu/letters/nlrb-decision-on-fellows/.
15. Mahajan, Amann S. “‘Harder for All of Us’: Confusion Reigns after Harvard Excludes 900 Grad Students from Union.” The Harvard Crimson, August 15, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/8/15/hgsu-workers-removed-folo/.
16. Mahajan, Amann S., and Hugo C. Chiasson. “Harvard Removes 800 Students from Grad Union, Claiming They Are Not Employees.” The Harvard Crimson, July 3, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/7/3/harvard-stipend-students-removed-hgsu/.