Yes! In fact, the USW represents the faculty here at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as some staff and all adjuncts at Point Park University, adjunct faculty at Robert Morris University, and staff at the University of Toronto, Victoria University, St. Michaels College, Guelph University, and Queens University.

The faculty, custodians, grounds crew, food service, truck drivers, police officers and security guards, building trades (carpenters, electricians, laborers, painters, plumbers, sheet metal, and steamfitters) are all unionized. 

Absolutely! In addition to the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, the United Library Workers at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh system voted to form a union in August 2019; contract workers at Google’s Pittsburgh office voted to form a union in September 2019 and formed the Federation of Tech Workers; and United Museum Workers at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh voted to form a union in December 2020. 

Dignity and Respect for Our Work
We do valuable work for a top-ranked research university, and want our compensation to reflect the dedication and expertise that we bring to the institution.

Improved Pay and Secure Benefits
Benefits and pay that are secured in a contract, keep us healthy, give us access to education, and allow our families to thrive.

Making Pitt a Better Place to Work for All
We love working at Pitt! We want to create a just culture of mutual respect that affirms the values of the entire Pitt community. This will allow us to do our best work to support Pitt’s mission, while also empowering us to address issues that affect our working lives.

Many of our jobs are primarily grant-funded, which means that our work is funded by a contract between Pitt and a funding agency. If you are in a grant-funded position, you might wonder how a union can improve your work experience.

Every aspect of our terms and conditions of employment at the University of Pittsburgh – including pay, research support, benefits, workload, and everything else directly relevant to our working conditions – are legally considered mandatory subjects of bargaining.

This means that the administration will be obligated under the law to negotiate in good faith with us over those subjects, regardless of the source of funding for our position. The administration will be legally prohibited from making unilateral changes to our salary, research support, benefits, or working conditions without first negotiating with us over the proposed changes.

For instance, other higher education unions have negotiated for increased opportunities for bridge funding (Oregon State Univ.); improved parental and family leave (Univ. of Oregon, SUNY); and internally developed and approved departmental bylaws for promotion and performance evaluations (Univ. of Florida), as well as numerous other improvements.