For Immediate Release: April 22, 2024
Contact: R.J. Hufnagel, (412) 562-2450, rhufnagel@usw.org
(PITTSBURGH) – The United Steelworkers union (USW) today filed unfair labor practice charges with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) in response to the University of Pittsburgh administration’s failure to respond to the union’s requests for information necessary for contract bargaining.
The USW has represented about 3,400 members of the Pitt faculty since the workers voted overwhelmingly to unionize in October of 2021. The union members and the administration have been bargaining for more than a year in an effort to reach a first contract, but the faculty has faced numerous delays in receiving responses from the administration.
“The faculty union could have a contract agreement in place already, if it were not for the administration’s repeated delay tactics,” said Bernie Hall, director of USW District 10, which includes more than 50,000 Steelworkers union members across the state of Pennsylvania. “In fact, we’ve reached the point where we are in agreement on every point, aside from one section that would give the administration the unilateral authority to withhold pay increases in the event of a loss of enrollment or funding.”
The information the USW is seeking from the university is necessary for the union to finalize contract proposals related to pay and benefits. The union also filed charges with the PLRB against the administration last fall following similar delays.
“The University of Pittsburgh is a world-class institution precisely because of the hard-working faculty and staff,” said Hall. “It’s past time for the administration to stop drawing out the bargaining process with unnecessary delays and return to the bargaining table to finalize an agreement that is fair to both sides.”
Thousands of Pitt support staff members and graduate student workers are also moving forward with their efforts to become USW members.
The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.
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