By LINDSAY RODZWICZ

Staff Council recognizes and celebrates Pitt’s many achievements and the incredible day-to-day work that staff do to advance the University’s mission.  Record applications and enrollment, a top-20 national ranking in research spending, and a thriving academic reputation in the top 2% of universities worldwide reflect the strength of the University of Pittsburgh.

Staff have contributed meaningfully to these outcomes while absorbing increased workloads often without additional compensation and through recent periods of a hiring freeze and continued controlled hiring.

We further recognize the financial pressures facing the University, including flat state funding, the need to keep tuition increases reasonable, and the uncertainty around research funding and indirect cost rates. 

Through Staff Council’s three seats on the University Budget and Planning committee and our conversations in shared governance with members of administration, we continue to advocate regarding salary and benefits on behalf of non-represented Pitt staff.  We are glad to see the return of a University-level pool to support merit, market and equity (MME) adjustments, even if small at 0.5%, to recognize the performance of non-represented staff. 

That said, the 2.0% salary maintenance pool for FY27 for non-represented staff falls short of the 4.4% year-over-year inflation (per the current Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), and we believe this gap deserves continued attention. 

Over the past five years, the total salary pool (including MME) has only kept up at 65% to prior year’s CPI-W inflation.

• FY22: 1.75% salary pool vs. 6.1% CPI-W (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_07132021.pdf)

• FY23: 4.25% salary pool vs. 9.8% CPI-W (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_07132022.htm)

• FY24: 4% salary pool vs. 2.3% CPI-W (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_07122023.htm)

• FY25: 3% salary pool vs. 3.1% CPI-W (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_07112024.htm)

• FY26: 2.5% salary pool vs. 2.6% CPI-W (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_07152025.htm)

Summed over these five years, the total salary pool increase was 15.5%, compared to 23.9% CPI-W inflation, meaning the salary pool has covered just 64.85% of cumulative inflation over that period.

Salaries are being further eroded by this year’s rising costs:

• Health insurance increases — 8% increase for non-represented faculty and staff.

• Parking rate increases — between 8-17% increase for those non-represented who park in University spaces.

Closing the gap between real wage growth and the CPI-W would help align practice with the spirit of the University's Salary Increase Policy, which identifies faculty and staff as the University's most important resource.

In the December 2025 University Times article, Board of Trustees Chairperson John Verbanac said the officer compensation philosophy “affirms the board’s commitment to attracting, retaining and rewarding officers in an appropriate, reasonable and market-competitive manner, while clearly linking compensation to both organizational and individual performance and to the Plan for Pitt.”   

This same philosophy must also extend to Pitt staff. A sustainable, competitive compensation model which includes a meaningful annual salary pool that keeps pace with inflation and additional increases in employee expenses is key to recruiting and retaining talented, mission-driven staff, and to fulfilling Pitt's stated aspiration to be an employer of choice (Strategic Plan for Pitt, Pillar 3.3).

As one of the largest employers in the Pittsburgh region and a top institution of higher education worldwide, the University has a significant opportunity to lead by example in how staff are valued and compensated. Staff Council looks forward to continuing to work with the administration in shared governance toward a sustainable, long-term approach to non-represented staff compensation.

Staff Council serves as a center for input and dissemination of information, provides a means of communication between staff and other members of the Pitt community, and provides opportunities for professional development.  

Staff Council has historically represented the interests of Pitt staff not covered under a collective bargaining agreement and continues to participate in shared governance on campus to advocate for the interests of all staff members on issues not addressed by collective bargaining. Additionally, the Council continues its mission to advocate for unrepresented staff members on all matters.   

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Lindsay Rodzwicz is Staff Council’s president and director of special projects strategic initiatives in the Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering.