Harbard Union Says Yo-Yo Ma and Colbert Crossed Its Picket Line

The Harvard Graduate Student Union says cellist Yo-Yo Ma and television host Stephen Colbert crossed its picket line — and it's not apologising for the disruption that silenced them. The union, known as HGSU-UAW, says its wage strike is now in its second week.

The dispute centres on an on-campus event featuring Ma and Colbert. According to the union's statement, HGSU-UAW contacted both performers' teams more than once before the event took place. The strikers wanted the appearance moved off-site, held virtually, rescheduled, or cancelled outright.

What exactly does the union claim happened?

The union's statement is blunt. It says: 'HGSU-UAW sent multiple formal communications to Colbert and Ma's teams well in advance of the event that due to ongoing strike action, the building their event would be held at would be one with an active picket and that we encouraged them to move their event to an off-site location or virtually, reschedule the event, or cancel so as to not cross the picket.'

The statement continues: 'They continued the event inside without regard for the picket line, and refused to speak with union members as they left the event. In other words — they crossed our picket line.'

That last phrase does the heavy lifting. A picket line (a protest line that strikers ask people not to cross) only works if refusing to cross it carries a cost. The union's argument is that Ma and Colbert were told the cost, chose to proceed, and therefore joined the other side by default.

Did the union pull the fire alarm?

The event ended in an evacuation after a fire alarm went off, and some readers assumed the strikers were behind it. The union denies that. It says its members did not set off the alarm that cleared the building.

The union also pushed back on how its own members are being portrayed. A negotiator claims that her members are suffering 'significant levels of PTSD and threats of self-harm' — a stark reminder that this is a wage dispute, not a stunt. Harvard remains, in the words of one report on the standoff, 'a cauldron of discontent'.

What does this change for artists playing campuses?

The practical question for any performer booked at Harvard — or any campus with active labour action — is now unavoidable: check the labour calendar before you confirm. The union has shown it will name artists publicly, frame them as picket-line crossers, and keep the pressure on through the media after the fact.

For Ma and Colbert, the immediate fallout is reputational rather than financial. For HGSU-UAW, the episode keeps its two-week strike in the headlines, which is precisely what a union in a prolonged wage fight needs as negotiations continue.