By SUSAN JONES

The vote by Pitt staff to join the United Steelworkers union is a done deal, but there’s still a lot of confusion about what that really means for the 6,300 people in the bargaining unit.

USW officials planned three online informational meetings over the past two weeks and then added a fourth because of overwhelming demand, particularly at the noon session on Oct. 11. The Zoom meeting quickly reached capacity at 300, leaving several who had signed up to attend unable to connect.

Matt Nader, USW District 10 staff representative to the Staff Union of Pitt, said one of the main questions that has been raised is about the two bargaining units — professional (around 5,000 people) and nonprofessional (around 1,300).

“The PLRB (Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board) determined that there were two classes,” he said. “Pitt’s administration determined who was in those classes. ... That doesn't mean that we don't believe that you guys aren't all professionals. We did not have a say in that situation.”

Regardless, the union plans to negotiate the two bargaining units together. Nader and Kim Teplitzky, director of the strategic campaigns department for the USW, also said that the union is working through the bargaining unit lists to determine if there are people who were miscategorized or if there are people who were left out or who shouldn’t be in the bargaining unit at all.

“The University was forced to make these determinations because of the law, and they did them in a sort of haphazard way, it seems like in some cases,” Teplitzky said. “So there are a lot of issues around that.”

Some in the meeting noted that both they and their supervisor are on the bargaining unit list.

“In general, someone who's in a supervisory role is not eligible to be in the union,” Teplitzky said. “But obviously we know there's a lot of questions, because some of the lists that the University provided we don't agree with, and so we're going to be going back and forth with them on those cases. So generally, managers are not part of the union, but there are some specific cases where it's a question, is this person really a supervisor or not? And that's what we're going to be figuring out with the University and negotiating over.”

The University issued a similar statement: “During the election process the University and the union challenged the eligibility of certain staff employees. This included both the University and the union identifying staff they believed may have potentially been incorrectly included or excluded from the bargaining units.  As part of the collective bargaining process, the parties will be discussing these individuals to resolve their status and determine whether they should be included or excluded from the staff bargaining units."

“One of the big things that we expect to have with the administration is a good working relationship with these negotiations,” Nader said. “We ended the faculty negotiations on good terms. We've been successfully servicing that contract on good terms, working well with them, and we expect a very smooth transition into the staff contract.”

What comes next?

District 10 of the USW, of which the staff union is a part, has sent an extensive information request to the University on current benefits and policies and an up-to-date census, which will help them move forward into negotiations. But in the meantime, staff will see other activity.

Bargaining survey: The first step is sending out a bargaining survey to everyone in the unit on all campuses. Teplitzky said they hope to have the survey open by the end of the month. “Those surveys will be asking you what's important to you … and things that you would like us to address at the table and discuss with the university what the important issues are.”

Bargaining committee: The bargaining committee will be selected through an open election. Anyone in the bargaining unit can be nominated for the committee. You can nominate yourself or other people, but they must then agree to serve if elected.

The committee will use information gathered in the survey to begin preparing to meet with administration representatives. Teplitzky said District 10 Director Bernie Hall will chair the committee, which will be looking at some of the language from the faculty contract that was ratified in the spring.

Nader said they are looking to have about 10 people on the committee, but if they find an area that’s not represented in that group, the committee could expand. Hall said at the Oct. 15 information session that they hope to start bargaining in early December.

If you’re interested in being a part of the bargaining committee, there is a time commitment. Nader said it’s important that committee members attend bargaining sessions as often as possible. For the faculty union, negotiations happened monthly at first and then picked up pace at points, to every two weeks.

“Our success in negotiations is going to depend on the involvement and engagement of everyone in the bargaining committee,” Teplitzky said. There will be more information coming about the role of the bargaining committee and the election. Once nominees are established, there will biographical information and statements from them on the union website.

Communication Action Team: The union also will be building a team that will make sure “we're not just pushing this information out, but we also have a system and a process to keep everyone engaged in bargaining and what's going on in contract negotiations,” Teplitizky said. The team will have people from “every department, in every job class, on all of the campuses, in every building at Pitt.” They will make sure members are getting information from the union as well as collect questions and feedback.

Do I have to join the union?

The short answer is no. But even if you don’t join, everyone in the bargaining unit will be subject to the terms of the contract when it is ratified.

The union said it will start working to get people to sign union cards after it gets through the bargaining survey and the bargaining committee elections. Once a tentative agreement is reached with the University, only union members will be able to vote on the contract.

“We'll represent everybody,” Nader said. “If you have an issue and you fall under the collective bargaining agreement, we'll fight for you and we'll represent you, but again, that dues money is what gives us the ability to do that.”

Teplitizky also said that, “If people don't sign up to join the union, we're not going to have any power at the bargaining table to actually achieve the issues and achieve the gains that you guys are seeking in contract negotiations.”

What about dues?

The question of union membership dues seemed to be on the minds of many at the informational meeting.

The standard dues for the USW are 1.45% of gross salary, plus 2 cents per hour worked. In the case of Pitt’s faculty union, Nader said it was easier to negotiate a flat 1.5%, which works out to be about the same amount. For those who work a lot of overtime, there is a cap on dues at no more than 2.8 times their average hourly earnings.

No dues will be collected until the first contract is ratified, even if someone signs a union card today. Union dues help fund services like educational training and representing members in grievances and arbitrations. About 44% of dues go straight back to the local union, Nader said.

In general, dues are collected straight from workers’ paychecks by the University and then sent to the union, but that is something that will be included in the contract.

There also is a one-time $10 initiation fee, which is waived during the time before the contract is ratified.

What happens in the interim?

Once the union election was certified, then all members of the bargaining units fall under status quo. That means that “all local working conditions, everything that the University does right now, they're obligated to maintain, whether it's wages, raises, things like that,” Nader said.

When asked if there was a possibility of losing any benefits, like the paid holiday break, education benefits or hybrid work policies, Nader said, “The goal is never to lose anything. Like I said, we fall under status quo. So everything that they offer right now essentially is our starting point, and we like to build off of that.”

He said the USW contracts are generally for three to five years. Once negotiations get started, it might be a while until the tentative agreement is reached.

A study released last year by two Cornell researchers and one from the University of Windsor in Canada found that among 226 NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) representation elections in 2018, 63 percent of unions failed to reach a first contract within one year of winning their election, and 43 percent were still working without a first contract after two years. 

It was around 2.5 years from when the faculty voted to unionize until the contract was ratified.

Other questions raised

Why the USW? The Steelworkers union is headquartered in Pittsburgh and also represents adjunct faculty at Point Park and Robert Morris universities, as well as Pitt faculty outside of the medical school. Hall said the district he heads “may also be the most diverse district by industry in the union. We represent steelworkers, paper, chemical, glass, healthcare, public sector, social workers, mental health therapists, attorneys, nurses, educators and more.”

Could I lose benefits? Hall reminded people that bargaining under the law starts with the current status quo of wages, benefits and working conditions. “Your committee will be working to build upon what you currently have. We've had a lot of questions in the first two sessions and some worried that the University may move to cut benefits to start from a lower base. You are legally protected from that. The University cannot make changes to your wages and benefits with first bargaining.” The ultimate decision on whether to accept the tentative agreement reached by the bargaining committee is with the membership.

Does status quo mean no raises until the contract is completed? Not necessarily. In the case of the faculty union, the USW and the University negotiated an interim agreement on pay raises during the first year of negotiations, which allowed the University-set pay hike to go through. The final contract also contained retroactive pay that covered raises that took place during the second year of negotiations.

Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

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