BARGAINING UPDATE
March 25, 2022
Dear Colleagues,
Today our union was forced to file legal charges against Pitt for failing to bargain in good faith with us.
When the faculty voted to form a union last October, our relationship with the administration changed. They are now legally obligated to give us notice of changes to policies that affect our work, to provide us with detailed information about those changes and their context, and to bilaterally negotiate the substance of those policies.
Despite this, they are unilaterally implementing changes to the COVID mitigation policies without meeting their obligations to discuss and negotiate those changes before they are implemented.
We are committed to enforcing our right to bargain over the terms and conditions of our jobs.
In addition to their failure to bargain over policy changes, we have made a number of information requests dating back to November, including basic information about the composition of the bargaining unit, that they have failed to fulfill.
This process is unacceptable and a violation of our collective rights.
We are filing this unfair labor practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to ensure that these issues are resolved going forward.
We are very willing to engage in good faith over changes the administration wishes to make regarding COVID policy.
On March 22nd, we presented a practical, thoughtful proposal to make the accommodations procedure more flexible for vulnerable faculty and their families, give individual faculty discretion to set masking policies in their classrooms, labs, and offices, and provide more information about ventilation so faculty can evaluate their own risk more effectively.
On March 24th, the administration offered a response that largely ignored the suggestions from our proposal and did not give time for additional discussion before the March 28th implementation.
Our fifteen member bargaining committee, along with a team of expert staff from USW, has been working long hours developing proposals and preparing to present them at the bargaining table.
We remain ready and willing to negotiate in good faith and to work together to achieve transparent agreements that make sense for all of us. We expect the administration to be as prepared and committed to this process as we are.
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee
Today our union was forced to file legal charges against Pitt for failing to bargain in good faith with us.
When the faculty voted to form a union last October, our relationship with the administration changed. They are now legally obligated to give us notice of changes to policies that affect our work, to provide us with detailed information about those changes and their context, and to bilaterally negotiate the substance of those policies.
Despite this, they are unilaterally implementing changes to the COVID mitigation policies without meeting their obligations to discuss and negotiate those changes before they are implemented.
We are committed to enforcing our right to bargain over the terms and conditions of our jobs.
In addition to their failure to bargain over policy changes, we have made a number of information requests dating back to November, including basic information about the composition of the bargaining unit, that they have failed to fulfill.
This process is unacceptable and a violation of our collective rights.
We are filing this unfair labor practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to ensure that these issues are resolved going forward.
We are very willing to engage in good faith over changes the administration wishes to make regarding COVID policy.
On March 22nd, we presented a practical, thoughtful proposal to make the accommodations procedure more flexible for vulnerable faculty and their families, give individual faculty discretion to set masking policies in their classrooms, labs, and offices, and provide more information about ventilation so faculty can evaluate their own risk more effectively.
On March 24th, the administration offered a response that largely ignored the suggestions from our proposal and did not give time for additional discussion before the March 28th implementation.
Our fifteen member bargaining committee, along with a team of expert staff from USW, has been working long hours developing proposals and preparing to present them at the bargaining table.
We remain ready and willing to negotiate in good faith and to work together to achieve transparent agreements that make sense for all of us. We expect the administration to be as prepared and committed to this process as we are.
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee
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