Lori Jakiela
Not long ago, I visited the Pump House in Homestead. I was there to read some poems. The Pump House is hallowed ground in Pittsburgh. It’s the site where in 1892 workers fought off the Pinkertons, thugs hired by Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie, in the Battle of Homestead. It’s the site where people on both sides died and where, for many years, it seemed like the hopes for workers’ unions died, too. It would take many years – into the 1930s, into The New Deal – for workers’ rights to be legally protected.
My father was a first-generation American and a steelworker. My mother was first-generation American and a nurse. I was raised by a union family – my uncles, my aunts, my cousins on all sides. I grew up believing in the value of hard work and the importance of treating people fairly, and knowing that those in power don’t always do what’s right. I grew up learning that it was vital to speak truth to power.
Through my parent’s hard work and dreams, I was able to go to college. Through luck and my own dreams, I was able to go on to graduate school at The University of Pittsburgh, a school that holds a huge place in my heart. I received my MFA from Pitt in 1994, and went on to a life that was rich with experiences all over the world.
Now, many years later, I have become a full professor at Pitt-Greensburg. I’m still amazed at that.
What a gift Pitt has been in my life. How I want the best for this university that is, in many ways, my home.
Like most native Pittsburghers, I am fiercely proud of my roots. I am someone who grew up understanding that unions are essential to ensure the dignity and well-being of all workers, not just the privileged ones like me.
For all of these reasons, I support the Steelworkers efforts to unionize Pitt faculty, staff, and graduate students. It seems like a no-brainer that a university built in this city built by workers would welcome the balance and integral fairness a union would bring.
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.
For the past several years, I’ve been honored to gather with the Pittsburgh IWW on May Day to celebrate work and workers. The gatherings feature music and poems and speeches, good food and good company. After the gathering, there’s a march to the Pump House, in remembrance of our ancestors and in solidarity for all.
That’s what a union means to me – solidarity for all so that we can continue to make this university I love an even better place to work, grow, and learn.
--Lori Jakiela, English and Creative Writing, Pitt-Greensburg
My father was a first-generation American and a steelworker. My mother was first-generation American and a nurse. I was raised by a union family – my uncles, my aunts, my cousins on all sides. I grew up believing in the value of hard work and the importance of treating people fairly, and knowing that those in power don’t always do what’s right. I grew up learning that it was vital to speak truth to power.
Through my parent’s hard work and dreams, I was able to go to college. Through luck and my own dreams, I was able to go on to graduate school at The University of Pittsburgh, a school that holds a huge place in my heart. I received my MFA from Pitt in 1994, and went on to a life that was rich with experiences all over the world.
Now, many years later, I have become a full professor at Pitt-Greensburg. I’m still amazed at that.
What a gift Pitt has been in my life. How I want the best for this university that is, in many ways, my home.
Like most native Pittsburghers, I am fiercely proud of my roots. I am someone who grew up understanding that unions are essential to ensure the dignity and well-being of all workers, not just the privileged ones like me.
For all of these reasons, I support the Steelworkers efforts to unionize Pitt faculty, staff, and graduate students. It seems like a no-brainer that a university built in this city built by workers would welcome the balance and integral fairness a union would bring.
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.
For the past several years, I’ve been honored to gather with the Pittsburgh IWW on May Day to celebrate work and workers. The gatherings feature music and poems and speeches, good food and good company. After the gathering, there’s a march to the Pump House, in remembrance of our ancestors and in solidarity for all.
That’s what a union means to me – solidarity for all so that we can continue to make this university I love an even better place to work, grow, and learn.
--Lori Jakiela, English and Creative Writing, Pitt-Greensburg
