By SUSAN JONES
While many employees at Pitt will see raises in their September paychecks, faculty who are part of the union bargaining group most likely will have to wait longer.
Last year, the Union of Pitt Faculty agreed to a memorandum of understanding that allowed the raise pool set by the Board of Trustees — 3.25 to 4.25 percent — to apply to members in the bargaining unit, including part-time faculty. But this year, they plan to keep negotiations about compensation part of bargaining for a full tentative contract agreement, said Melinda Ciccocioppo, head of the union’s communication and action team and a teaching associate professor of psychology.
“Last year, we were in a very different place,” she said. “We’d only been at the table negotiating our contract for a few months at the point where it was time to decide on that salary pool. We had not drafted our compensation proposal yet. … And so we knew that it was it was going to be a little while before we had a tentative agreement on the full contract. And so for that reason, we decided to negotiate a separate memorandum of understanding just for that academic year in terms of the salary pool.”
This year, Ciccocioppo said, negotiating compensation as part of the larger contract is important, “because it gives us the ability to push for higher raises, to lock in those annual raises for multiple years in advance. … So we’re not dealing with this situation where we don’t know how much we’re getting paid until a month before the semester starts. … And we can negotiate salaries as part of a broader compensation package,” including items like health care costs and retirement benefits.
The University said this week that it “remains engaged in robust, good-faith bargaining with the faculty union. The administration is also committed to transparency about the process and has posted all proposals and counter proposals made by the University online, with regular updates provided. Since contract agreement takes cooperation and commitment on both sides, the University cannot predict when the parties will reach a full agreement. However, both sides have demonstrated a commitment to reaching a first contract.”
The compensation proposal set forth by the union in September 2022 includes:
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A salary floor of $60,000 for full-time faculty, pro-rated for part-time faculty.
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Annual maintenance increases of 8.3 percent per year, the current inflation rate.
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Annual “experience increases” of $5,000 per year for full-time faculty, pro-rated for part-time faculty.
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Minimum 10 percent increases for faculty who are promoted.
The union also will ask that the raises be retroactive to the beginning of the 2023-24 fiscal year. The salary pool set last week by the Board of Trustees for non-represented staff and faculty is 3 percent, with an extra 1 percent for merit, market and equity-based increases.
The University has not responded to these proposals during negotiations. “During the bargaining process, it is standard practice to finalize non-economic agreements first, as these can impact economic proposals like compensation,” the University said in a statement this week. “We have reached tentative agreement on many of the non-economic terms of the collective bargaining agreement and the University anticipates turning to economic issues in the coming months.”
In addition, the University said it is "required by law to negotiate all pay increases for represented faculty with the faculty union and, unless negotiated with the union, cannot provide raises to represented faculty members outside of the bargaining process. As with other terms of employment, faculty wages will be addressed in the collective bargaining agreement.”
Ciccocioppo said the union believes the two sides are very close to finishing those non-economic matters. The union also has posted updates on bargaining proposals.
“How quickly we can get to an agreement and how good of a raise we’re going get is really going to be dependent on the faculty as a whole,” she said. “We’ve seen that when we show up for solidarity actions, and we show support for our bargaining committee, that’s when we see movement at the table.”
She said the summer “has been relatively quiet. But it just seems clear that we’re going to need to get loud in the fall if we want a good raise and we want it quickly.”
She also pointed out that a separate memorandum of understanding signed by the union last year gives departments and schools the ability to grant raises for merit, equity and market adjustments for individual faculty members at their discretion. “I do think that’s an important clarification, because we have heard from some faculty members that when they ask for those sorts of raises, they’re being told, ‘Oh, we can’t give you that because of these negotiations.’ And that’s actually not true.”
Upcoming meetings
The University and union bargaining committees were set to meet again on Aug. 3. There’s been no word on what was accomplished at that meeting.
Ciccocioppo said the negotiating meetings have been happening about twice a month during the summer, and the union is hoping it goes back to three times per month this fall.
The union also will hold an information session on Aug. 10 for its members — those who have signed a union card and agreed to pay dues of 1.5 percent of gross pay once the contract is ratified. The meeting is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the USW headquarters on the Boulevard of the Allies in downtown Pittsburgh and on Zoom, and will focus mostly on answering members questions, Ciccocioppo said.
The union is encouraging faculty in the bargaining unit to become members, but Ciccocioppo would not say how many have already done so. Cards will be available to sign at the Aug. 10 meeting.
“(Union members) have decision-making power within our union, so they are able to attend meetings, they’re able to vote on the contract, they’re able to vote for elected local leaders once we ratify our contracts, run for elected positions,” she said. “I think the reason why that distinction is important is because essentially, if you are not a union member, it means that your working conditions will be governed by a contract that you will have no input on.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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