By SUSAN JONES
The staff and grad worker unions at Pitt, which are both represented by the United Steelworkers union, are deep into negotiations with the University on their first contracts, and the work seems to be going more smoothly than the faculty union bargaining that concluded last year, according to representatives from each bargaining committee.
The unions have both reached agreements with Pitt on memorandums of understanding (MOU), which allow promised raises, promotions, supplemental pay, and other status quo issues to go forward until the contracts are finalized. But neither bargaining committee has started the hard discussions on economic issues yet.
Staff union
Negotiations began in earnest in January between the Union of Pitt Staff and University administrators and their lawyers.
“In my opinion — I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know for sure — but we’re three months in, and I think we’ve made some great progress,” said Jennifer Goeckeler-Fried, chair of the staff union bargaining committee and a lab manager and research specialist in the Department of Biological Sciences.
She said they’re really looking forward to getting discussions on economic issues started, and they’re already starting to work on proposals in that area.
Other issues currently being negotiated include:
Performance evaluations: “We did feel like the staff themselves needed to have more involvement in the process, a little more notice when things were going to happen, and also make it more of an opportunity for staff to advocate for themselves when they feel like they are ready for promotions, raises, career development, things like that,” Goeckeler-Fried said.
The union said that its proposal was very well received by the administration.
Work hours: Goeckeler-Fried said the union’s new proposal on hours of work “will hopefully begin to address the ‘job creep’ that many staff experience, as well as the frequency with which non-exempt staff are being asked to work overtime, both of which we expect will increase under the current hiring freeze as positions that are vacated go unfilled.”
She said that although some positions may not be deemed essential under the hiring freeze, the work still needs to be done.
Even for exempt employees who regularly are asked to work more than 37.5 hours, she said they want to address ways “to have some sort of process for discussing these types of issues with supervisors in a safe environment where staff can’t be punished.”
Shared governance: The unions proposal would include protecting the rights of bargaining unit staff to speak on all matters of University governance at all levels, identical to the rights of faculty members.
The union and Pitt administration have reached a tentative agreement on issues surrounding discipline and discharge. University staff have always been at-will employees, who could be fired without a reason. The new agreement means “there must be a legitimate and fair reason to discipline or fire bargaining unit staff members,” Goeckeler-Fried said.
Members of the union also have been involved in advocating for the University and for federal grant funding over the past several weeks, she said. A group from the union went to Washington, D.C., recently and met with staff members from the offices of Pennsylvania’s senators, John Fetterman and Dave McCormick, and from the offices of senators from Ohio and West Virginia, because many Pitt students come from those states.
“The USW is planning more events coming up later this spring and into the summer, so that we can go and meet with our elected officials and keep fighting,” Goeckeler-Fried said. “It’s honestly been really great. I think some of us have been underwhelmed by the Pitt administration’s response to some of these federal budget cuts, so it’s been really nice to have our union standing beside us, fighting with us, and arranging opportunities for us to to engage on these issues.”
For more information on the union and bargaining updates:
USW website for Staff Union of Pitt: pittstaffunion.org, where you can sign up to get email updates from the staff union, read bargaining updates and find answers to some common questions. You also can text “pittstaff” to 47486 to receive bargaining updates.
Pitt staff unionization website: staffunionization.pitt.edu, which also has bargaining updates and answers to frequently asked questions.
The two sides have been trying to meet twice a month. The next bargaining session is on May 9.
Grad worker union
The administration and graduate worker union representatives met for the first time in February, but have already reached eight tentative agreements.
“I think negotiations have been good,” said Lauren Wewer, chair of the bargaining committee and a third year PhD candidate in material science engineering. “I think we’re happy with the progress of the first couple of sessions, … and excited that the University will hopefully continue to bargain in good faith.”
A bargaining survey found that the overriding issues for grad workers are having a livable wage, standard health care and, for many, lab safety. Wewer said since many graduate students work in labs, they’re concerned about upholding lab standards, having clear practices in place for reporting or trainings and getting appropriate PPE.
There are around 2,000 people in the bargaining unit, although Wewer said many move in and out of the unit because of graduation or transition to a different status. The union covers all full-time and regular part-time graduate students on academic appointments who work as teaching assistants, teaching fellows, graduate student assistants and graduate student researchers. Graduate students on fellowships and traineeships are not part of the unit.
At the April 1 bargaining session, a tentative agreement was reached on non-stipend payments for grads, which allows students to receive payments for things like additional teaching, paid internships and administrative duties.
The union also has presented a proposal governing non-discrimination, anti-harassment and anti-bullying, which largely mimics the agreement in the faculty contract.
Wewer said grad workers are “just really excited to have our union and have protections now.”
The threat of losing funding from the federal government also is a concern for grad workers. “I think everyone’s pretty worried because things are so uncertain,” Wewer said. “A lot of our funding comes from federal agencies, so students are worried about their time here getting cut short or not being able to have the proper reagents to run experiments. I think just that uncertainty has been a struggle.”
For more information on the union and bargaining updates:
USW website for Pitt Grad Union: pittgradunion.org, where you can sign up to get email updates from the union, read bargaining updates and find answers to some common questions. You also can text “gradworker” to 47486 for updates.
Pitt grad worker unionization website: gradstudentunionization.pitt.edu, which also has bargaining updates, answers to frequently asked questions and a list of proposals and counterproposals.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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