Union of Pitt Faculty

THE UNIVERSITY WORKS BECAUSE WE DO

Meet some of our colleagues:

Kathy Neiswanger

DENTAL Medicine

Over the years, it has become clear to me that we do not have a real voice in many basic workplace issues, such as salary equity or appropriate workload expectations ...

Mark
Adkins

BIOENGINEERING

As an adjunct professor in the Swanson School of Engineering, I support union representation for three key reasons: 1) fair pay, 2) improved benefits, and 3) a voice in our university.

anupama (anu) jain

Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies

Faculty unions should be a no-brainer-- as in, we need them. They are not a panacea for all ills, obviously, but what is?

JERRY DICKINSON
Law, University of Pittsburgh

Daniel Normolle

Biostatistics

The current model of university management, in which increasing numbers of junior faculty are employed on a contingent basis without opportunity for promotion or even job security, is creating a race to the bottom for the next generation of academics.

Gurudev
Dutt

Physics and Astronomy

I believe a faculty union will be an important first step...

Marian
Jarlenski

school of public health

I support a faculty union at Pitt because I believe a union will help us to work together to advance our scholarship, teaching, and service.

LECH HARRIS
English, University of Pittsburgh

Mrinalini Rajagopalan

History of Art and Architecture

I support the Pitt Faculty Union for three reasons. First, unions are quite simply the extension of democracy into the workplace; second, research and teaching excellence are compatible with providing equity for all faculty across ranks; third, when universities undermine academic labor, they perpetuate anti-intellectualism and damage our larger mission of sustaining scientific inquiry and critical reasoning.

Ward
Allebach

Geology and Environmental Science

Unions have gotten a bad rap in recent years. People have all-but-forgotten why they are here and what they have accomplished: to protect the rights of people who are being over-worked and under-paid by management who consider them replaceable.

Ruth
Mostern

History

I support the union because I believe that amplifying and concentrating workers’ voices is always worthwhile, and because I trust that the Union of Pitt Faculty will improve conditions, compensation, and transparency for me and for all academic labor at Pitt.

CHRIS CONNABOY
Sports Medicine and Nutrition, University of Pittsburgh

Melissa
Catanese

STUDIO ARTS

During these recent unprecedented times, I support the union because standing together we have a better chance at ensuring that the voices of faculty and staff are not left behind in the decision making process, particularly those voices most vulnerable among us.

Gunduz Caginalp

MATH

It is clear that a union will benefit Pitt faculty. What is less obvious is that it will also benefit teaching and scholarship.

Jaclyn
Kurash

GERMAN

I’m from Pittsburgh and come from a union family. My family was conscious of the rights of others, of disparities in how people are treated along lines of gender, class, and race, and the role unions can play in equalizing those relationships.

LAURA LOVETT
History, University of Pittsburgh

Lori
Jakiela

English and Creative Writing,Pitt-Greensburg

A union can give voice to people who feel silenced. It can ensure clear lines of communication from the administration on down. It can do what unions have always done: protect the people who make an institution and a workplace shine.

Ricardo Vila-Roger

Theatre arts

Can we imagine what our lives would be without unions? The five-day work week, child labor laws, employer-based healthcare coverage, FMLA… these are just a few of the many things that unionized workers have done to make our way of life better and of what can be achieved when workers collaborate.

Laura
Lovett

HISTORY

I came to Pitt from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the most unionized university in New England. We had a faculty and librarian union (MSP-MTA), a professional staff union (PSU), a graduate student union (GEO-UAW) and an undergraduate union (the Resident Assistants Union, UAW 2322).

LAUREN COLLISTER
Faculty Librarian, University of Pittsburgh

Lauren
Collister

University Library System

The faculty union can help us not only with bargaining power for the conditions of our employment, but also by fostering greater and deeper connections to our colleagues across the University.

Daniel
Hatfield

LINGUISTICS - ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE

I support the union because people everywhere should have a say in the forces that shape and impact their lives.

Mary Elizabeth Rauktis

SOCIAL WORK

Through our unionization effort, I hope that professional development for NTS faculty will come to be treated as a real priority at the University of Pittsburgh.

ALEX DRAGON
Falk Laboratory School

Chris
Deluzio

school of LAW

My hometown of Pittsburgh is a union town through and through. But the struggles that brought the labor movement to where it is today were uniformly met with resistance, and that's still happening.

Melinda Ciccocioppo

Psychology

I support the union because, without it, we have no power to influence the administration to enact changes that will benefit our faculty, our students, and ultimately our institution. Solidarity is our greatest strength.

Jeff
Shook

SOCIAL WORK

Unions provide workers with a voice, secure democracy in the workplace, and place checks on administrative power. It’s been argued that universities are different from other employers and have no need for unions. This is just not true.

GEORGE LEIKAUF
Public Health, University of Pittsburgh

Ross Kleinstuber

JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION & CRIMINOLOGY, JOHNSTOWN CAMPUS

Unionized workers earn, on average, $10,000 more per year than non-union workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jennifer
Lee

ENGLISH

Teaching at Pitt means a great deal to me. I deserve to be paid equitably for the work I do, to have the terms of my employment articulated clearly and applied fairly. I hope for a work life in which I can continue to move and grow. These are things I want for myself and for my colleagues.

Tim
Maddocks

ENGLISH

I’ve hope that a faculty union could allow for university management to see me as more than a simple cog in their class scheduling. I have hope that things can change.

KURT SUMMERSGILL
Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh

Russ Phillips

Psychology, Pitt-Greensburg

Job security. Fair pay. Due process. Administrative transparency. Truly shared governance. These are my reasons for supporting a union.

William Scott

English

If we organize ourselves to speak together, as one voice, these basic goals would be within easy reach.

Scott
Smith

History

My career path and life experience have given me the advantage of knowing the value of union contract, and of a strong union: I grew up in a household where unionism was the closest we came to anything like religion.

CARL REDWOOD
Social Work, University of Pittsburgh

Luke
Peterson

Religious Studies

I excel as a teacher; I am an active writer. I work hard every day to make sure that my classroom is a challenging, open, and engaging environment.

But, despite all of my successes, I do not have a permanent place at the table at the University of Pittsburgh.

John
Beverley

Hispanic Languages and Literatures

Unionization is a way to address these issues for both T/TS and non-tenure stream faculty. The prospect of unionization puts pressure on administration to address urgent concerns.

Claudia Davidson

LAW

Having represented unions for the past three decades, I know firsthand how much better off employees are when they are in a union. Beyond having their interests better represented, union workers become more effective employees as well as co-workers to each other.

RACHEL BEZANSON
Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh

David
Marshall

COMMUNICATIONS

From the point of view of non-tenure-stream or adjunct faculty, the arguments in favor of a Pitt faculty union are overwhelming and clear.

Tyler
McAndrew

ENGLISH

I would support a faculty union at Pitt because it could provide stability for myself and other teachers who are caught in similar positions. I would support a faculty union because I love my job, but each year, come December, or come May, I worry that I will find myself without one.

DEB POLK
Dental Public Health, University of Pittsburgh