Staff Council says 4,400 Pitt staff have flexible work agreements

By MARTY LEVINE

About 4,400 interim flexible work agreements are now in place for Pitt employees, Staff Council Executive Vice President Kenny Doty told the group’s Nov. 17 meeting, after its officers met the previous day with David DeJong, senior vice chancellor for business & operations.

It will take about six months for the permanent policy covering future FWAs to be devised, Doty said. Staff Council members are part of the committee discussing this policy.

DeJong told the officers that the compensation modernization framework is complete, Doty said, and will be presented to senior leadership next month.

The officers also learned through this meeting that Human Resources has hired new staffers to take care of recent backlogs in services, and that these backlogs have been rectified.

Staff Council officers met as well with Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, who asked for suggestions on how to make equity training and supervisor training “more intentional” for staff, Doty said: “He left us with a question … How can we bake staff issues into the strategic plan for Pitt? If we can do that, we can get a lot more leverage and a lot more backing.” Doty said the group’s executive officers plan now to meet with Gallagher monthly.

A virtual meeting with their counterparts at regional campuses also was held by Staff Council officers. “We heard a lot of the same issues we’re facing” on the Pittsburgh campus, Doty said: from job creep to inconsistent training of employees.

On the regional campuses, “a lot of people are the only one who know their job. … We spoke to someone who was the only person in their department. If they get sick or take a day off, nothing gets done.” And they also feel left out of the annual staff picnic, he said, and are looking for similar events on their own campus.

Finally, Doty announced that “Staff Council will take a neutral stance as an organization” on the movement for a staff union at Pitt, begun last month. The group does hope to create “some ways to make some impartial education available on what a union is and how a union works … without steering it either toward the Pitt side or toward the union side.”

Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.

 

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