By SUSAN JONES
When it comes to unions at Pitt, most of the attention lately has focused on new bargaining units formed by the United Steelworkers for faculty, staff and graduate workers.
But nearly 800 staff at Pitt have long been unionized under a variety of organizing units. And one of those, the Service Employees International Union, is also in the midst of bargaining a new contract for its 400 workers at Pitt, and they’re not happy with how it’s going so far.
Three members of the SEIU bargaining committee talked to the University Times recently about contract negotiations. Pam Rall-Johnston has worked at Pitt for 33 years, mainly in environmental services in the School of Medicine; Jeff Waddell has worked in housekeeping for nine years and Albert Simon has been with Facilities Management for four years. All are members of 32BJ SEIU, the local that represents members all over the East Coast. At Pitt, the union represents groundskeepers, movers and receivers and cleaners — for medical facilities, dorms and classrooms.
The contract expired at the end of December and bargaining has been going on since then. The University’s initial offer was for a 10 cent wage increase over the first year, the SEIU said.
“Coming off of COVID, we were established as essential workers, because we had to maintain our status as cleaners when going to the heart of COVID,” Waddell said on Feb. 11. “And we were promised by several different entities — from the chancellor down — that we would be rewarded based on a better contract, better working conditions, things of that nature. And now we come to the opportunity to sit down and be appreciated … and being offered 10 cents.”
Since then, the University has increased its offer to around $1.60 in the first year, SEIU officials said, but that still puts Pitt workers below their counterparts at Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne universities. Average wages for cleaners at the three schools for 2024:
Pitt: $20.02 per hour / $21.62 for 2025 under current offer
CMU: $21.40 / $22.05 for 2025
Duquesne: $21.46 / $22.05 for 2025
Rall-Johnston said it’s particularly disrespectful to be offered less that the other local schools, because the workers at Pitt includes cleaners who deal with medical waste and other sensitive medical equipment that the other schools do not have.
“The things that we have done on this campus — just COVID alone, going in the lab. Everybody else was home, scared of what was going to happen. And we’re going in labs that people had COVID and we had to clean up,” she said. “We didn't even know what it was. … I work in a major medical facility, I clean labs, the things I see, and you're telling me I’m worth a dime after 33 years?”
Simon said they’re not looking to get ahead of the workers at CMU and Duquesne, but at least want to be at the same level. The initial offer from the University would even by the end of the four-year contract not bring Pitt workers up to that level, he said.
The University said in a statement that, “The University of Pittsburgh is committed to bargaining in good faith and looks forward to reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.”
Pete Schmidt, the Western Pennsylvania area leader for 32BJ SEIU, said the local represents the “same industries right down the street at Duquesne University and right up the street at CMU, and we have negotiated much higher wages for people who do the exact same kind of work, and have successfully done that without, honestly, much of a fight from the employers the last two times we've negotiated those contracts.”
The union bargaining group also is not happy with the health benefits the University offers. SEIU members at Pitt must pick from the same UPMC plans that other Pitt employees have. “We tried to show them just the value of what the union itself has been utilizing for years,” Waddell said. “CMU has utilized it, saved money and helped them to increase their bottom line as workers.”
Another issue came up during last week’s negotiations. The union said the University “introduced language that basically says that if the government ‘takes action’ they don’t like they can suspend their financial obligations under the contract. There are a few issues with this. First this type of language is unheard of in any contract we have ever negotiated. Two they shouldn’t bring this type of language up in the 11th hour. Three it is very vague and puts the wages of the lowest paid staff at risk of being even lower in the event of any government action.”
The “action” that the University is worried about is most likely connected to cuts proposed by the Trump administration to National Institutes of Health indirect costs (see related story). Pitt could lose as much as $121 million if the a 15% cap on indirect costs is imposed, according to data in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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