By SUSAN JONES

Around 6,300 full- and regular part-time Pitt staff members from all campuses will get a chance to vote on whether to join the United Steelworkers starting Aug. 15.

The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board issued a ruling on July 18 to allow the election to go forward. But the ballots won’t have a straight yes or no question. It’s a bit more complicated than that.

The order includes lists of professional (around 5,000) and nonprofessional (around 1,300) employees, who will receive separate ballots. Pitt said the bargaining unit composition was determined collaboratively by the USW and the University. The union said the PLRB decided there will be two voter groups, “even though the USW and Pitt both agreed that all Pitt staff are professional workers and should be voting in one group.”

Pennsylvania labor law defines a professional employee as someone with a four-year degree that they regularly use in their job. The University determined who was designated as professional and non-professional on the voter list. 

As of fall 2023, Pitt had 8,800 staff employees. Of those, around 800 are already represented by unions, such as Pitt Police, grounds crews and housekeeping workers.

In addition to those already in unions, those not eligible to vote in this election include most supervisors, graduate student employees and others. The union says the “exclusions are inconsistent.” You can double check if you are eligible to vote by emailing staffunionofpitt@usw.org, or you can find the full list here.

The University and union are encouraging everyone on both lists to vote, because the results wil impact all of them. The University also said, "We respect your democratic right to vote and to decide if you would like to be represented by the United Steelworkers. Because unionization would impose a new legal and contractual framework, we encourage you to be fully informed before voting on the unionization question."

Only those on the professional list will get to vote on whether the professional and nonprofessional employees should be one bargaining unit or two separate ones. A section of the state’s Public Employe Relations Act says that a bargaining unit can only include both professional and nonprofessional employees if a majority of the professional employees vote for a combined unit.

Voters must choose between:

• “I choose to be included in a unit of professional and nonprofessional employees.”

• “I choose not to be included in a unit of professional and nonprofessional employees.”

Mariana Padias, assistant director of organizing for the USW, said this same method is used on the federal level.

“It’s really confusing,” Padias said. “And I think part of the confusion is that the system itself is unfair in terms of allowing professional employees to be the only ones who get to make this decision of whether to be a combined unit or not.”

The ballots then have two other questions for both professional and nonprofessional staff.

The first question is to vote for the combined unit to be represented by the USW or to have no representation. The results of this question would be used if the majority of professional employees vote for the combined bargaining unit.

If the professional employees vote not to have a combined unit, then the second question would determine if the two units want to be represented separately by the USW. In this case, the one side could vote to unionize and the other could reject the union.

These two questions also are a little confusing, Padias said. “There's no way to vote yes (or no).”

For instance, question 2 says: “In the event a majority of professional employee vote not to be included in a combined professional and nonprofessional unit”:

The two choices are between the USW, which is listed on the ballot under its full official name — United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC — and No Representative.

“While it’s obviously important that workers chose the configuration of their own union, there is clear strength in numbers, making a vote for a single, unified bargaining unit a powerful choice,” said Jess Kamm, of USW communications.

Padias said they plan to create resources to help voters understand what exactly they are voting on.

Voting process

Ballots will be mailed from Harrisburg on Aug. 15 to the address Pitt has on file for staff members on the lists. The mailing will include the official ballot, an instruction sheet, a self-addressed envelope and a blank envelope for the ballot.

Completed ballots must be received by the PLRB at its Harrisburg office no later than 5 p.m. Sept. 19. If you believe you are eligible to vote and have not received a ballot by mail by 5 p.m. Aug. 22, you should email a request for ballot to katowens@pa.gov. The request should include your full name, correct mailing address, job title, reason for the request, type of ballot requested (professional or non-professional), and the name of your employer (University of Pittsburgh).

The PLRB will begin counting the ballots on Sept. 25, and it may take a couple days to complete. The outcome will be determined by a simple majority of those who cast ballots.

This latest staff unionization effort started in 2021, but really picked up steam in fall 2022. Union organizers filed cards with the PLRB in June 2023 seeking an election.

The USW also has organized around 3,500 Pitt faculty, who voted to join the union in 2021 and approved their first contract in May. In February, graduate student workers filed for a union election, also to be represented by the USW, and are awaiting a decision from the PLRB.

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

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