Harvard graduate students authorize a strike; no date set

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Graduate students at Harvard University have voted to authorize a strike, but no date has been set for any walkout.

The union represents close to 5,000 teaching and research assistants. It says it is at an impasse with the school on issues including pay, benefits and protections from discrimination.

Members voted 2,425 to 254 over the past week to give the bargaining committee the power to call a strike.

The school says that it has been negotiating in good faith and that calls for a strike are unwarranted.

The vote comes after a ruling last month by the National Labor Relations Board overturning a 2016 decision that gave graduate students at private schools the status of employees and the right to form a union.