Union, administration agree on 3.25 percent raises for part-time faculty

By SUSAN JONES

The Union of Pitt Faculty announced on Sept. 9 it had reached an agreement with the University to expand 3.25 percent cost-of-living raises to part-time faculty for the 2022-23 year and to allow the administration to increase salaries for individual faculty while bargaining continues toward a full contract.

The Pitt administration said in a statement: “We are equally pleased the University can move forward with the annual increases for faculty members.”

The second part of the agreement will allow the administration to give retention increases to faculty who receive outside offers, the union said, without having to go through the bargaining process.

Pitt’s budget, announced in July, has a pay raise pool of 3.25 percent, with an additional 1 percent available for market, inequities and merit. At that time, the administration said that,  “Eligibility for represented faculty is subject to bargaining obligations.”

The union, which is part of the United Steelworkers, said this is the first time that part-time faculty have been eligible for the same cost-of-living increase as full-time faculty.

“Since our union includes full and part-time faculty, our key priority for this cycle was to ensure that all faculty we represent share the same opportunities for salary increases,” the union said in its announcement.

This year’s raises were retroactive to July 1, and, for faculty, will appear in the October paycheck. For staff, pay raises will be in the Sept. 30 (if paid monthly) or Sept. 9 (if paid biweekly) pay.

The union said it will continue to seek substantial salary increases, especially for those with the lowest salaries.

This agreement does not change other eligibility rules for receiving salary increases this year, the union said. For example, faculty who already individually negotiated a raise for this year will not receive an additional increase from this salary pool, and faculty who shifted to a reduced effort with a lower salary will have the increase applied to that new base salary.

Complete details about eligibility are here.

Anyone who thinks they should receive the 3.25 percent cost-of-living increase but does not, can submit a request for review to the provost’s office at faculty@pitt.edu within 14 days of receiving the October paycheck. The request should contain why you believe you were mistakenly excluded from the raise. They will respond to you within 14 days.

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

 

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