Pitt-SEIU talks continuing
Talks are expected to continue tomorrow, April 17, between Pitt and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32BJ, according to Ken Service, vice chancellor for communications.
Approximately 400 custodians, mechanics, groundskeepers and maintenance workers represented by SEIU Local 32BJ are working under an extension to a contract that expired in December. Negotiators last met on April 13.
Progress is being made, University and union officials said. Sam Williamson, district director of 32BJ, told the University Times: “While we are making incremental progress at the bargaining table, no agreement has yet been reached. We continue to call on Pitt to lead by helping us build a 21st-century economy that works for all Pittsburghers. Pitt should invest in the lowest-paid workers on campus and make sure cleaners get the same fair wage increases as administrators and executives.”
The workers, who make about $15 an hour, are seeking a 3.7 percent pay increase, a percentage that aligns with the lowest raise given to University officers, whose most recent raises ranged from 3.7-7 percent. (See Dec. 4, 2014, University Times.) According to an SEIU release, the workers were offered an increase of less than 2 percent.
About 60 demonstrators circled the Cathedral of Learning and chanted outside the chancellor’s office in an April 7 rally in support of Facilities Management workers who are negotiating a new contract with the University. Accompanied by drums and whistles, they demanded respect, affordable health care and wage increases in line with administrators’ raises.
—Kimberly K. Barlow