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.
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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. |
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. |
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). |
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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. |
Mary Ann Caton HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, PITT TITUSVILLE . . . I believe that leaving a union behind can be our legacy to other Pitt faculty, to give them some leverage over how they are treated by the university. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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? |
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. |
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. |
Kitty 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 ... |
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Kavi Joseph Abraham POLITICAL SCIENCE Perhaps it's unsurprising that the university is reconstituting itself on the model of a corporation. But then the university must accept that its scholar-teachers are workers whose lives must not be lived on the margins nor in constant uncertainty. A union is the only thing that helps get that message across. |
Patrick Cooper Math - University of Pittsburgh; Physics - Duquesne University Without the security of a contract that has been negotiated by the faculty, acting as a collective unit to ensure the health and well-being of our institution, I don’t see a bright future for academia. |