Takeaways:
Dear colleagues,
We met with the administration on Tuesday, July 25th and Thursday, August 3rd. During these sessions we exchanged counter proposals on Workload, Part-time Faculty, Visiting Faculty, Full-time Appointment Stream Faculty, and Tenured/Tenure Stream Faculty. While we have made progress on Workload, and we are close to a tentative agreement on this article, we remain apart on crucial components of other proposals.
One key area where we remain apart from the administration is on job security. Job security is a cornerstone of any union contract and our position has always been that for all faculty, including part-time faculty, if you are doing a satisfactory job and there is work for you to do, you should be able to keep doing it. To achieve more job security for faculty we have pushed for automatic contract renewal for appointment stream faculty. This means that faculty will be automatically reappointed to a subsequent appointment at the end of their contract if they are performing satisfactorily and there is work for them to do.
Enforceability remains a key sticking point. The administration has agreed to language around “presumptive renewal” that largely fits with what we proposed, but we remain apart on the list of reasons for non-renewal and protections against unjust or pretextual non-renewal. The administration’s proposal includes numerous reasons for non-renewal beyond unsatisfactory work and a lack of work, and importantly makes it impossible for faculty to challenge non-renewal decisions using the grievance and arbitration procedure laid out in our contract. A right without an enforcement mechanism is not a right, and the grievance and arbitration procedure exists to enforce the rights negotiated in our contract. Non-renewal is tantamount to being fired or laid off. Appointment stream faculty do not have job security if there is no fair mechanism for questioning decisions to not renew their contracts.
A second significant area of disagreement involves our proposal on part-time faculty. Our part-time faculty members are skilled and experienced professionals and perform work that is the same as full-time faculty members. Yet there are not clear pathways for them to gain full-time positions if they want them, and too often their part-time status is a barrier to obtaining full-time employment. We have asked the administration to commit in writing in our contract that status as a part-time faculty member will not be held against someone applying for a full-time position. Thus far, the administration has not agreed to this language. We believe this is an important recognition of our part-time colleagues and the skill and dedication they bring to the indispensable work they perform at Pitt.
Another significant area of disagreement involves visiting faculty. We agree that visiting faculty appointments are important to fill temporary gaps in the faculty. Too often, however, “visiting” status lingers on for many years, and these faculty have no avenues for advancement or security even though they are filling an ongoing need.
Importantly, we have made progress in negotiations toward developing a process to convert long-standing visiting appointments to more permanent faculty appointments. We have asked the administration to commit in the contract to making reasonable efforts to not increase the percentage of visiting appointments. This is an important protection to help ensure that visiting appointments aren’t used to circumvent the job security provisions we’re negotiating elsewhere. Thus far, the administration has not agreed to this language.
A final area of disagreement involves promotions for appointment stream and tenured/tenured stream faculty. The current policy for appealing promotion decisions (Pitt Policy AC-28) is advisory and ultimately gives unrestricted discretion to the administration. Our proposal acknowledges that substantive disputes over a candidate’s worthiness for promotion or tenure should not be subject to grievance and arbitration; however, procedural disputes or discrimination should be resolved using our grievance and arbitration procedure, which is independent, neutral, and legally binding. This is an important protection for faculty that helps ensure that procedures used in the promotion and tenure decision are followed fairly and equitably.
We need to push the administration to resolve these outstanding job security issues, among other things, so that we can move on to bargaining over salaries and other economic issues. We hope that you will join us at our membership meeting on August 10 so that we can discuss how we can make progress at the table.
We will return to the bargaining table on August 21st and will continue to fight for job security for all bargaining unit members. As faculty, we are the foundation of Pitt and we all deserve to know that if we continue to do our jobs satisfactorily and there is work for us to do, we will continue to have jobs.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining committee
Tyler Bickford (chair), Professor, English, Oakland
Nicholas Bircher, Part-time Professor, Nurse Anesthesia, Oakland
Chloe Dufour, Faculty Librarian, ULS, Oakland
Anthony Fabio, Associate Professor, Epidemiology (Public Health), Oakland
Lech Harris (secretary), Part-time Instructor, English, Oakland
James Hill (archivist), Visiting Assistant Professor, History, Oakland
Haitao Liu, Professor, Chemistry, Oakland
Megan O’Brien, Master Teacher, Falk Laboratory School, Oakland
Stephen Robar, Associate Professor, Political Science, Bradford
Sabrina Robinson, Part-time Instructor, Slavic, Oakland
Evan Schneider, Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, Oakland
Paul Scott, Assistant Professor, Health and Community Systems (Nursing), Oakland
Jeffrey Shook, Professor, Social Work, Oakland
Stacey Triplette, Associate Professor, Spanish, Greensburg
Abagael West, Teaching Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Oakland
Links!
- We are moving closer to a final tentative agreement on our contract, but we remain apart on key issues affecting job security and promotion for full and part-time appointment stream, visiting, tenure stream, and tenured faculty members.
- We need to push the administration to come to an agreement on enforceable language covering these outstanding issues so that we can move on to discussions around raises and other economic concerns.
- Attend our membership meeting in-person at the USW International HQ (60 Blvd of the Allies) or on Zoom from 6:30-8 PM on August 10 to discuss how we can put pressure on the administration to come to an agreement.
Dear colleagues,
We met with the administration on Tuesday, July 25th and Thursday, August 3rd. During these sessions we exchanged counter proposals on Workload, Part-time Faculty, Visiting Faculty, Full-time Appointment Stream Faculty, and Tenured/Tenure Stream Faculty. While we have made progress on Workload, and we are close to a tentative agreement on this article, we remain apart on crucial components of other proposals.
One key area where we remain apart from the administration is on job security. Job security is a cornerstone of any union contract and our position has always been that for all faculty, including part-time faculty, if you are doing a satisfactory job and there is work for you to do, you should be able to keep doing it. To achieve more job security for faculty we have pushed for automatic contract renewal for appointment stream faculty. This means that faculty will be automatically reappointed to a subsequent appointment at the end of their contract if they are performing satisfactorily and there is work for them to do.
Enforceability remains a key sticking point. The administration has agreed to language around “presumptive renewal” that largely fits with what we proposed, but we remain apart on the list of reasons for non-renewal and protections against unjust or pretextual non-renewal. The administration’s proposal includes numerous reasons for non-renewal beyond unsatisfactory work and a lack of work, and importantly makes it impossible for faculty to challenge non-renewal decisions using the grievance and arbitration procedure laid out in our contract. A right without an enforcement mechanism is not a right, and the grievance and arbitration procedure exists to enforce the rights negotiated in our contract. Non-renewal is tantamount to being fired or laid off. Appointment stream faculty do not have job security if there is no fair mechanism for questioning decisions to not renew their contracts.
A second significant area of disagreement involves our proposal on part-time faculty. Our part-time faculty members are skilled and experienced professionals and perform work that is the same as full-time faculty members. Yet there are not clear pathways for them to gain full-time positions if they want them, and too often their part-time status is a barrier to obtaining full-time employment. We have asked the administration to commit in writing in our contract that status as a part-time faculty member will not be held against someone applying for a full-time position. Thus far, the administration has not agreed to this language. We believe this is an important recognition of our part-time colleagues and the skill and dedication they bring to the indispensable work they perform at Pitt.
Another significant area of disagreement involves visiting faculty. We agree that visiting faculty appointments are important to fill temporary gaps in the faculty. Too often, however, “visiting” status lingers on for many years, and these faculty have no avenues for advancement or security even though they are filling an ongoing need.
Importantly, we have made progress in negotiations toward developing a process to convert long-standing visiting appointments to more permanent faculty appointments. We have asked the administration to commit in the contract to making reasonable efforts to not increase the percentage of visiting appointments. This is an important protection to help ensure that visiting appointments aren’t used to circumvent the job security provisions we’re negotiating elsewhere. Thus far, the administration has not agreed to this language.
A final area of disagreement involves promotions for appointment stream and tenured/tenured stream faculty. The current policy for appealing promotion decisions (Pitt Policy AC-28) is advisory and ultimately gives unrestricted discretion to the administration. Our proposal acknowledges that substantive disputes over a candidate’s worthiness for promotion or tenure should not be subject to grievance and arbitration; however, procedural disputes or discrimination should be resolved using our grievance and arbitration procedure, which is independent, neutral, and legally binding. This is an important protection for faculty that helps ensure that procedures used in the promotion and tenure decision are followed fairly and equitably.
We need to push the administration to resolve these outstanding job security issues, among other things, so that we can move on to bargaining over salaries and other economic issues. We hope that you will join us at our membership meeting on August 10 so that we can discuss how we can make progress at the table.
We will return to the bargaining table on August 21st and will continue to fight for job security for all bargaining unit members. As faculty, we are the foundation of Pitt and we all deserve to know that if we continue to do our jobs satisfactorily and there is work for us to do, we will continue to have jobs.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining committee
Tyler Bickford (chair), Professor, English, Oakland
Nicholas Bircher, Part-time Professor, Nurse Anesthesia, Oakland
Chloe Dufour, Faculty Librarian, ULS, Oakland
Anthony Fabio, Associate Professor, Epidemiology (Public Health), Oakland
Lech Harris (secretary), Part-time Instructor, English, Oakland
James Hill (archivist), Visiting Assistant Professor, History, Oakland
Haitao Liu, Professor, Chemistry, Oakland
Megan O’Brien, Master Teacher, Falk Laboratory School, Oakland
Stephen Robar, Associate Professor, Political Science, Bradford
Sabrina Robinson, Part-time Instructor, Slavic, Oakland
Evan Schneider, Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, Oakland
Paul Scott, Assistant Professor, Health and Community Systems (Nursing), Oakland
Jeffrey Shook, Professor, Social Work, Oakland
Stacey Triplette, Associate Professor, Spanish, Greensburg
Abagael West, Teaching Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Oakland
Links!
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- Find previous bargaining updates here
- Status of bargaining
- Get in touch with your Council rep
- Get involved with the Communication and Action Team
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