BARGAINING UPDATE
January 12, 2024
Starting the new year strong
Takeaways:
Dear colleagues,
Alana DeLoge is an instructor in the Department of Linguistics. The administration’s counter to our Compensation proposal included a $60,000 salary floor for some Pitt faculty, but excluded others, including instructors like Alana, who are among the lowest paid. Here is her story:
I have been a full-time instructor since 2016 and am the Quechua Language Program Coordinator and the sole instructor for all six levels of Quechua instruction at Pitt. As such, I am responsible for designing and maintaining the Quechua language program, in addition to teaching all of the classes. Further, I teach an English-medium course on Global Quechua and linguistics courses such as, Introduction to Linguistics, Cross-Cultural Communication, and Languages of the World. I have also taught in both Bolivia and Ecuador as study abroad faculty, including serving as the director of Pitt in Bolivia, a summer study abroad program, from 2015-2018. I frequently am a guest lecturer in other departments and for student organizations, and I do substantial outreach and community engagement with the Quechua students. I participate in job searches for other language faculty, advise on Fulbright committees, serve as a member of undergraduate thesis committees, help in the coordination of national conferences, and serve on grant funding committees. Since 2019, I have been a co-director of the Quechua Innovation and Teaching Initiative (QINTI), an international collaborative project of language teaching, advocacy, and activism, housed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We are developing a multi-dialectal open-access Quechua language textbook and are actively engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning through conference presentations, publications, and hosting international events. I have recently secured funding to continue the work of my dissertation and am eager to return to the research that I do in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Also more recently, I have completed the training necessary to become a member of the Survivors Support Network at Pitt, so I will be able to support people on campus who have experienced sexual misconduct.
As is evident, I do much more than teach the courses required for my instructor position. However, there is very little room for growth (in either pay or type of position that I hold). I first came to Pitt in 2004 as a graduate student and have spent all but two years since then in student and faculty roles. I have completed an MA, an MPH, and a PhD, all from Pitt. Both my work as a graduate student and later as faculty demonstrate longevity and dedication to the university. I am also trying to create a life in which my child can thrive. I do all that I have described in this testimonial as a solo mother (meaning no other parent or other parent’s salary) to a three-year old. My salary alone supports both of us. The work that I do at Pitt merits, and my little family deserves, a salary that compensates adequately.
Instructors like me are crucial to support Pitt’s outstanding students. As we are here to help students thrive, we should also be encouraged to thrive in our own right, professionally and personally, as well as for the benefit of our students and Pitt as an institution. Fair compensation for the work that we do is necessary to accomplish this.
You can find more stories from our colleagues here: https://www.pittfaculty.org
We met with the administration on Wednesday. They did not have a counterproposal for us on Compensation—in well over a year we have only received a single inadequate proposal from them on this article. We see a path to a final agreement on most of the other outstanding issues, but the administration has had over a month to review our Compensation counter from December 7 and develop a response. Faculty members like Alana deserve to be paid at least $60,000 for the work they do, and we all deserve annual raises that make up for the money we have lost over the last few years and make our salaries competitive with peer institutions.
The administration did present productive counterproposals on Benefits, Layoffs, Falk School Faculty, and Sabbaticals and Professional Development Support. There is still work to do, but the moves they made in these proposals point toward a path to a final agreement on these key articles. In the afternoon we presented counterproposals on Layoffs, No Strike/No Lockout, and Falk School Faculty. The No Strike/No Lockout article sets forth provisions on strikes and lockouts during the term of the contract. Pennsylvania law prohibits strikes during a contract and for some period of bargaining after contract expiration, but the administration’s proposal includes additional highly punitive language for faculty who act independently. We think the repercussions should be more reasonable and should not be unilaterally determined by the administration.
To win fair pay for everyone we will all need to come together to push the administration to make progress on this issue. If you have not signed a union membership card yet, sign one today and reach out to a CAT member to get more involved.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining committee
Tyler Bickford (chair), Professor, English, Oakland
Pete Bell, Teaching Assistant Professor, Chemistry, 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
Megan O’Brien, Master Teacher, Falk Laboratory School, Oakland
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!
- Hear from a colleague who needs a $60k salary floor.
- We met with the administration on Wednesday and made progress on Benefits and Layoffs.
- All of us need to come together to push hard for fair salaries. Reach out to the Communication and Action Team (CAT) to sign a card and get involved!
Dear colleagues,
Alana DeLoge is an instructor in the Department of Linguistics. The administration’s counter to our Compensation proposal included a $60,000 salary floor for some Pitt faculty, but excluded others, including instructors like Alana, who are among the lowest paid. Here is her story:
I have been a full-time instructor since 2016 and am the Quechua Language Program Coordinator and the sole instructor for all six levels of Quechua instruction at Pitt. As such, I am responsible for designing and maintaining the Quechua language program, in addition to teaching all of the classes. Further, I teach an English-medium course on Global Quechua and linguistics courses such as, Introduction to Linguistics, Cross-Cultural Communication, and Languages of the World. I have also taught in both Bolivia and Ecuador as study abroad faculty, including serving as the director of Pitt in Bolivia, a summer study abroad program, from 2015-2018. I frequently am a guest lecturer in other departments and for student organizations, and I do substantial outreach and community engagement with the Quechua students. I participate in job searches for other language faculty, advise on Fulbright committees, serve as a member of undergraduate thesis committees, help in the coordination of national conferences, and serve on grant funding committees. Since 2019, I have been a co-director of the Quechua Innovation and Teaching Initiative (QINTI), an international collaborative project of language teaching, advocacy, and activism, housed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We are developing a multi-dialectal open-access Quechua language textbook and are actively engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning through conference presentations, publications, and hosting international events. I have recently secured funding to continue the work of my dissertation and am eager to return to the research that I do in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Also more recently, I have completed the training necessary to become a member of the Survivors Support Network at Pitt, so I will be able to support people on campus who have experienced sexual misconduct.
As is evident, I do much more than teach the courses required for my instructor position. However, there is very little room for growth (in either pay or type of position that I hold). I first came to Pitt in 2004 as a graduate student and have spent all but two years since then in student and faculty roles. I have completed an MA, an MPH, and a PhD, all from Pitt. Both my work as a graduate student and later as faculty demonstrate longevity and dedication to the university. I am also trying to create a life in which my child can thrive. I do all that I have described in this testimonial as a solo mother (meaning no other parent or other parent’s salary) to a three-year old. My salary alone supports both of us. The work that I do at Pitt merits, and my little family deserves, a salary that compensates adequately.
Instructors like me are crucial to support Pitt’s outstanding students. As we are here to help students thrive, we should also be encouraged to thrive in our own right, professionally and personally, as well as for the benefit of our students and Pitt as an institution. Fair compensation for the work that we do is necessary to accomplish this.
You can find more stories from our colleagues here: https://www.pittfaculty.org
We met with the administration on Wednesday. They did not have a counterproposal for us on Compensation—in well over a year we have only received a single inadequate proposal from them on this article. We see a path to a final agreement on most of the other outstanding issues, but the administration has had over a month to review our Compensation counter from December 7 and develop a response. Faculty members like Alana deserve to be paid at least $60,000 for the work they do, and we all deserve annual raises that make up for the money we have lost over the last few years and make our salaries competitive with peer institutions.
The administration did present productive counterproposals on Benefits, Layoffs, Falk School Faculty, and Sabbaticals and Professional Development Support. There is still work to do, but the moves they made in these proposals point toward a path to a final agreement on these key articles. In the afternoon we presented counterproposals on Layoffs, No Strike/No Lockout, and Falk School Faculty. The No Strike/No Lockout article sets forth provisions on strikes and lockouts during the term of the contract. Pennsylvania law prohibits strikes during a contract and for some period of bargaining after contract expiration, but the administration’s proposal includes additional highly punitive language for faculty who act independently. We think the repercussions should be more reasonable and should not be unilaterally determined by the administration.
To win fair pay for everyone we will all need to come together to push the administration to make progress on this issue. If you have not signed a union membership card yet, sign one today and reach out to a CAT member to get more involved.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining committee
Tyler Bickford (chair), Professor, English, Oakland
Pete Bell, Teaching Assistant Professor, Chemistry, 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
Megan O’Brien, Master Teacher, Falk Laboratory School, Oakland
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!
- If someone forwarded this to you, sign up to receive these emails
- Find previous bargaining updates here
- Status of bargaining
- Get in touch with your Council rep
- Get involved with the Communication and Action Team
- Request a digital membership card
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