Local News

Wellesley faculty ends strike, but still with no contract

Organizers decided to end the walkout to protect vulnerable faculty members from losing health insurance or, in the case of international employees, visa status.

April 26, 2025

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Dozens of non-tenure-track professors at Wellesley College ended a nearly month-long strike, returning to classrooms Friday without a union contract.

In a statement released on its website Thursday, the bargaining committee for the Wellesley Organized Academic Workers (WOAW) confirmed the end of the strike, which began on March 27.

“As the semester comes to a close, we are ending our current strike and will return to the classroom [Friday] for the last week of class, with our strength established and our community stronger than ever. While we are returning to work, the fight is not over,” WOAW said.

A bargaining committee member told the Boston Globe that union members ended the walkout to protect vulnerable professors, including those in cancer treatment, from losing access to health insurance. There was also concern that noncitizen faculty members could potentially lose their temporary visas due to an ongoing strike, risking deportation.

The non-tenure track faculty are seeking increased pay, a lighter four-course workload, and job security. Despite the lack of a union contract, the committee said there was progress toward a first agreement.

University leaders said in a statement Thursday that they were “grateful to the WOAW-UAW’s bargaining team and members for coming to this decision. While the strike is ending, the critical work of negotiating a final contract that recognizes the significant contributions of our NTT faculty is continuing.”

The next bargaining session will begin on Monday, according to Wellesley officials.

On Friday, a Wellesley spokesperson denied that the college threatened to report noncitizen union employees to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“This is false. The College has not threatened union members, and it has not ‘weaponized’ the visa status of any noncitizen employees. But the occurrence of a strike did create risk for some noncitizen employees,” the spokesperson said.