As it begins its first semester as a fully operational local, Harvard’s graduate student union is alleging that the University is attempting to defund the union and impede its organizing by not deducting union dues for student workers, union president Brandon J. Mancilla said.
HGSU-UAW members have their union fees automatically deducted from their paychecks and transferred to the union at a rate of 1.44 percent of gross income, per the final contract the union and Harvard reached earlier this year. When students sign membership cards to join the union, Harvard is supposed to automatically enroll them into a dues deduction system in its payroll.
But Mancilla said the University did not deduct dues from members’ paychecks until September 18, nearly three months after the contract’s July 1 ratification, and alleged this was a deliberate attempt by Harvard to challenge the union.