Around 6,300 University of Pittsburgh staff members will be joining the United Steelworkers following a successful union vote.
A “strong majority” of staff members at Pitt voted to join the union through a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board mail ballot election, union representatives announced Friday.
The union hopes to gain improved pay and secure benefits, foster “dignity and respect” for their work, and make Pitt “a better place to work for all,” according to its website. The staff’s next step will be to elect a bargaining committee in preparation for bargaining their first union contract with the school’s administration.
“Staff at Pitt have finally achieved what all workers deserve — a collective voice and the ability to take part in decisions that affect our work. It’s been a long road, but ultimately our solidarity carried us through to this historic moment,” said Emilee Ruhland, a Global Communications Strategist in the University Center for International Studies, in a statement.
“This will make Pitt a more secure workplace and a better place to get an education,” Ruhland said. “It’s a victory for the whole campus community.”
In a statement Friday afternoon, a Pitt spokesperson said the university has maintained that the union election was a decision for staff to make.
"The University remains committed to maintaining an environment where all staff can thrive professionally," the statement said.
The university plans to begin preparing for collective bargaining negotiations in the coming weeks and months.
The staff will become part of the 850,000-member USW, one of the largest labor unions in North America, and join more than 3,000 members of the Pitt faculty, who unionized under USW in 2021 with more than 71% voting in favor.
The Pitt faculty union ratified its first contract with the university earlier this year in May. The contract will run through June 30, 2026. The contract set a wage floor for both full- and part-time faculty, and provided promotion minimums, longer appointments, and a more streamlined renewal process for non-tenure-stream faculty.
“This win belongs to every staff member who stood together for a stronger, more inclusive Pitt,” said USW District 10 Director Bernie Hall, who represents about 50,000 Steelworkers in Pennsylvania. “When workers have a voice, the entire university thrives — from the classrooms to the community that calls it home.”
The staff union isn’t the only fresh union activity at Pitt. 2,100 Pitt graduate workers this year filed for a union election with the USW and will vote once the PLRB sets the schedule.
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