BARGAINING
UPDATES

November 11, 2026

Key Takeaways:

• We're still waiting on the administration to finalize the details for VERP participation for represented staff.

• We finally received a counterproposal on Overtime and Compensatory Time from the administration.

• Eight other proposals were discussed, but we did not get a response to our compensation proposal.

We met with the administration on November 10, 2026. Since the Voluntary Early Retirement Program (VERP) was announced, we have been very clear that we are committed to making sure that represented staff can participate in the program. However, we have repeatedly had to wait for the administration to provide us with documents to review and to schedule discussions.  We met on November 3rd to deliver our latest counterproposal and have been waiting for a response ever since.  Despite having a week to review our counter, in this session they told us that they STILL were not ready to respond. They are dragging their feet in negotiations over the VERP with represented faculty as well. We will continue to work to reach an agreement on this as soon as possible and will let you know as soon as there is news.

              Speaking of delays, at long last the administration engaged with us in discussions about Overtime and Compensatory Time (OT/CT). We first submitted our proposal for how OT/CT should be handled back in March of 2025 (not a typo!). The administration continuously refused to bargain with us over OT/CT and other economic issues, telling us that it wasn't time yet to talk about economics, which was unlawful. We filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge earlier this year, and in order to avoid the hearing, they FINALLY provided a counterproposal. After a year and a half of waiting, we look forward to being able to make progress on this.  We asked a lot of questions at the table that enabled us to draft and present a counter in the afternoon.

              In addition to OT/CT, eight other proposals changed hands throughout the day. We're making good progress on some of our job security pillars. One highlight: the administration seems to be starting to understand our concerns about provisional periods. Unfortunately, they did not respond [AM1] to our compensation proposal.

              Last month, we demanded that the administration increase the pace of bargaining and provide us with additional bargaining dates. We have secured five more bargaining days before the end of the year - and we will meet again next Monday, November 16th. We’ll keep fighting for the raises and better working conditions that we deserve!

Thank you to all of our members who have served or are serving in the military. Happy Veteran’s Day!

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