Vote counting begins today for the proposed unionization of the University of Pittsburgh faculty, which includes those on the Pitt-Bradford campus.
The Pennsylvania Labor Relations board (PLRB) ruled during the summer that Pitt faculty could take part in another vote — the fifth such attempt since 1976.
The vote began Aug. 27, with ballots due Oct. 12. If successful, the union would include almost 3,500 educators across five campuses, making it the largest new union in the United States this year.
A website created to share information on the effort explains that “out of the 18 public institutions in Pennsylvania, only Pitt and Penn State lack a faculty union.”
Issues raised on the website that might be addressed through the formation of a union include job security, salary discrepancies and the loss of health benefits for some part-time faculty, among other issues. Reliable due process when a tenured professor is fired without cause is also mentioned, noting the current appeals process is long and complex and ultimately puts faculty in an advisory role, with the final decision left up to the chancellor.
“For all its complexity, this appeals process provides neither peer review nor independent adjudication,” the website states.
Also according to the website, “Under the law (Public Employee Relations Act of July 23, 1970), when a majority votes in favor of forming a union, the administration is required to negotiate with them in good faith as equals.”
It notes that currently, without a union, the employees are subordinates and negotiations can be handled as the administration chooses.
The United Steelworkers (USW), which has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, are assisting with faculty efforts to establish a union. Internationally, the United Steelworkers have more than 800,000 members. The website for the Pitt union effort also explains the reason for affiliation with USW, noting, “Today’s USW members work in a wide variety of areas, including metals, manufacturing, paper and forestry, but also health care, pharmacies and pharmaceuticals, civil service, law, finance, transportation and education.”
Citing a ruling in 2015 by the PLBR that excluded department chairs at Temple University from the faculty bargaining unit, the website explains that this precedent would apply to Pitt and mean that “for the time being, there are insuperable legal obstacles preventing department or division chairs from being included in the bargaining unit.”
Meanwhile, an effort has also been launched to unionize other employees at all five of the university’s campuses. Staff encompasses a broad group of individuals at Pitt — those who are employed by the university but aren’t faculty or graduate students. The group includes thousands of people universitywide, including academic advisers, lab managers, research coordinators and many other categories.
Staff organizers at Pitt will also partner with USW in their campaign.
An effort to unionize graduate students in the Pitt system was ruled unsuccessful by the PLBR earlier this month. The ruling was released by Pitt on Oct. 5, and it stated that an election held in April 2019 over a four-day period fell short of the necessary votes needed by 39. The results were appealed by the USW and students involved in the effort, but the ruling states that actions by management, which were mentioned in the appeal, were not significant enough to impact the final results of that election.
