BARGAINING
UPDATES

June 26, 2026

Key Takeaways

• We gave the administration a proposal for salary increases while we continue to negotiate our contract.

• We reached a Tentative Agreement on Seniority!

• Discussions about Layoffs and Hours of Work continued.

Prior to our bargaining session on June 26, 2026, we sent a proposal to the administration that asked for raises for bargaining unit staff that would take effect on July 1. We will negotiate additional salary increases as part of the ongoing contract bargaining, but we know that many of our members are struggling to make ends meet NOW. Therefore, we are asking for raises of 7% or $3,000, whichever is greater for each employee. We think that this is a very reasonable amount to ask for in this interim period while negotiations continue.  We certainly deserve more than the 2.5% we received last year, which did not even keep up with inflation. This proposal would also boost the lowest paid staff, who need help the most. Under our proposal, a full-time staff member making $42,857 or less (currently about 20% of the bargaining unit) would have $3,000 added to their base salary, while anyone making more than that will receive 7%. The administration did not respond to our proposal during this session, but we hope that we will receive a positive response soon.

In the meantime, many of you have already reached out to your bargaining committee to tell us about your economic struggles. WE INVITE YOU TO SHARE YOUR STORY with us using this short survey form. We would like to collect your statements to bring to the administration to augment our own at the bargaining table.  These statements can be made anonymously.

We are very happy to tell you that we have a Tentative Agreement (TA) on Seniority!  Once the contract is ratified, if a bargaining unit staff member is laid off, as long as they are re-hired within 24 months of the date of layoff, their years of service will continue from when they left off; they don't re-set to zero. This matters when calculating vacation time accrual, retirement plan vesting, and in several more workplace scenarios.  The administration initially offered only a 12-month seniority bridge, but we argued that since other groups of unionized Pitt workers get a 24-month bridge, we deserved that too. After a lot of discussion, they finally agreed!

Additionally, our TA on Discipline and Discharge requires that terminations of bargaining unit staff will follow JUST CAUSE STANDARDS once we have a contract in place.  These standards don't necessarily apply during this time of negotiation. Therefore, we wanted to help members who are terminated during the time between the date our union was certified (10/7/2024) and the date that the contract will take effect. Our Seniority TA states that if a bargaining unit staff member is terminated during this time but is then re-hired within one year, their seniority will bridge. We're glad to be able to provide our members with these additional safeguards for our years of service.

Each side also presented a counter on Layoffs and Hours of Work and we are slowly working out the remaining issues that are preventing us from reaching an agreement on these topics. Frustratingly, the administration has refused to engage on the topic of overtime and compensatory time. The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board will shortly schedule a hearing for us to present our case that this refusal to bargain is unlawful.

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