Faculty union files labor complaint against Pitt, alleging it is stalling contract talks

Still without a contract two years after forming, the union representing 3,000 faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh has filed an unfair labor practice complaint, accusing Pitt of prolonging the contract talks.

The United Steelworkers asserts in a filing before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board that Pitt is engaging in unlawful conduct in its approach to bargaining.

The union said Pitt hadn’t responded to a union proposal made a year ago on research support, and it took 14 months for the university to address a union compensation proposal and six months to answer a union proposal on layoffs and recalls.

“Negotiations can only be effective when both sides participate,” said USW District 10 Director Bernie Hall, who represents USW members across Pennsylvania. “The administration’s relentless silence on some of the most important bargaining topics suggests it has no interest in reaching a contract.”

Pitt has not commented in the two days since the union announced its filing. The parties met Tuesday and are expected to meet again Dec. 7.

Pitt responded to the research proposal during bargaining Tuesday, only after the unfair labor complaint was announced, said Melinda Ciccocioppo, teaching associate professor in the Department of Psychology and a union organizer.

The university rejected the proposal.

“They could have done that a year ago,” Ciccocioppo said Wednesday.

The union is pressing Pitt for a $60,000-a-year earnings floor for full-time faculty in addition to other economic issues, according to Ciccocioppo.

“The administration could be moving faster than it is,” she said. “Faculty are tired of waiting for raises.”

Nationwide, there has been a surge in union organizing in a variety of workplace settings and a warming of public attitudes to labor, according to a 2022 poll by Gallup. It found that 71% of those surveyed had a favorable view of unions, the highest level of support since 1965.

Still, as the Washington D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute pointed out in May, winning a union election is one thing, but securing an initial contract is another.

It pointed to a study published in the Industrial Relations Journal that found 63% of unions failed to reach a first contract within one year of winning their election. After two years, 43% had yet to do so.

An analysis published in Bloomberg Law put the average time to a first contract at 465 days.

The Union of Pitt Faculty was created when faculty members voted by a wide margin to unionize, based on results announced in October 2021. The bargaining unit represents full and part-time faculty on the Oakland main campus as well as on the branch campuses in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville.

The pace of the talks has sparked campus protests, including a rally outside then-Provost Ann Cudd’s Cathedral of Learning office in December 2022 and rallies before Pitt trustee meetings this year.

In addition to Pitt faculty, other Steelworkers drives are under way to organize thousands of university staff and to organize graduate student workers. An effort four years ago to unionize 2,000-plus graduate workers fell 39 votes short.