BARGAINING
UPDATES

July 23, 2026

Key Takeaways

• The administration still did not respond to our proposal for annual raises.

• Discussions about Provisional Periods, International Staff, Hours of Work, UCDC, and FTE Reductions continued.

We met with the administration on July 23, 2026. We asked whether they had a response to our proposal for annual raises. As a reminder, we are asking for 7% or $3000, whichever is greater. These raises are extremely important to all of us, and we pointed out that since an announcement about raises for non-represented staff had been made, we were hoping that we would get a response soon. Unfortunately, we were told that it's under consideration but there’s no definite timeline and they will respond as soon as they can. This lack of urgency shows a disregard for the economic struggles that we are facing.

We were also disappointed that while the administration's counter on Provisional Periods contained movement in our direction, it still didn't address some major concerns that we have. There are many instances where we don't think that a provisional period should apply - at least not in their current form. We've proposed some alternatives, but they have been met with resistance thus far. 

The number of hours a full-time employee works in a typical workweek is commonly defined as a full-time equivalent (FTE). For most of us, 100% FTE is 37.5 hours per week, as described in our Hours of Work proposal.  We understand that sometimes a staff member's work effort might need to be involuntarily reduced, for example, due to lack of work or funds. Our FTE Reductions proposal attempts to ensure that an FTE reduction is done only for legitimate operational need, and with reasonable notice to the affected staff member. This proposal also outlines a process by which a staff member can request a voluntary reduction in their %FTE, and a timeline for their supervisor to respond.

We did make good progress on both the International Staff and UCDC proposals. Some economic aspects of the UCDC proposal still need to be discussed, but we believe that we are close to an agreement on the non-economic components of that proposal, and very close to an agreement on International Staff.

We don't meet with the administration again for three weeks. We hope that this gives them plenty of time to work on their responses to several proposals that have been in their court for a while, including the proposal on annual raises.

In solidarity,

Your bargaining committee
Jen Goeckeler-Fried, Chair, Biological Sciences, DSAS
Kearsten Adams, Recording Secretary, Academic Advising, UPG
Shawn Alfonso Wells, Pitt Global Experiences, UCIS
Mark Brown, DLAR
Lydia Chmill, Disability Resources & Services, OTC
Emily Daller, University Child Development Center, OHR
Jay Hornack, Law
Adriana Maguiña-Ugarte, Anthropology
Todd Shaffer, Office of Student Life, UPJ
Michelle Utz-Kiley, Epidemiology, SPH
Dan Wyszomierski, UPCI/NSABP
Matt Nader, USW
Nate Kilbert, USW
Don Shaffer, USW
Bernie Hall, District 10 Director, USW