‘A long time coming’: Pitt grad workers vote heavily in favor of forming union

Graduate workers at the University of Pittsburgh announced Friday that they voted overwhelmingly to form a union almost a year after making their efforts public.

More than 97% of the votes cast in the election that took place over several days this week came back in favor of unionization, meaning the university’s roughly 2,100 graduate workers will join the ranks of the United Steelworkers. 

“It’s been a long time coming; it was a moment of pure joy when the ballots were counted,” Connor Chapman, a Pitt grad worker and member of the organizing committee, said in a phone call from Trace Brewing in Bloomfield, where grad workers celebrated their victory Friday evening. “We felt very good going into the election based on the organizing that we had done, but seeing the final counts, it was overwhelming. I just felt so full of pride, not just in myself, but in my organizing committee and all my co-workers who helped make this happen.”

Graduate workers said they wanted to form a union at Pitt to gain a voice in the workplace and have the ability to negotiate over issues such as funding security, stipend increases, protections against discrimination and harassment, improved family benefits, hours and working conditions, and affordable health insurance. The graduate workers filed for a union election in January, but Chapman said they had to push the university “at every turn.”

The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board ordered Pitt to submit the list of eligible voters for the election by Aug. 26, but the university did not do so until hours after several dozen graduate workers rallied outside the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland on Sept. 10. 

Following that rally, the graduate workers had to “march on the boss” to get a polling place at the university, Chapman said.  

In a statement Friday, the university acknowledged that its graduate workers had voted in favor of unionizing and said it would prepare for the process of collective bargaining.

“The University has a great deal of experience in working with our unions and is committed to providing updates and ongoing information on this website,” the university said. “While first contract negotiations can be complex, please know that we will come to the table in good faith and be there to support all graduate students throughout and beyond the process.”

A union drive by Pitt’s graduate workers failed in 2019 by double-digit margins, although many of the votes were contested. 

Chapman credits the success of the latest unionization effort to the rigorous organizing conversations that graduate workers had with each other.

“I think a lot of the work we’ve done in the past couple of years has shown that we can really build worker power at the university if we engage with each other and talk about how this institution should work for everyone who participates in it,” Chapman said. “It should work not just for us but for the entire Pittsburgh community.” Pitt’s graduate workers assist teaching and teach classes as well as conduct research for the university, where they are among the lowest paid employees and have little to no control over their schedules, working conditions or benefits. 

For example, a year ago graduate workers struggled to deal with changes the university unilaterally initiated in their health insurance. That change “was a very large catalyst for unionization, because our copays went up anywhere between 5 and 700%” depending on an employee’s circumstances, Chapman told the Union Progress in September. “My colleagues and I are a critical part of the research and education that makes the University of Pittsburgh a world-class academic institution,” said Caroline Layding, a graduate researcher in Pitt’s biostatistics department. “We are so proud to join the Steelworkers, and we can’t wait to meet the university administration at the bargaining table.”

Pitt faculty organized with USW in 2021, and the university’s staff unionized with the Steelworkers in September. 

“Graduate workers provide vital contributions to the university community, and their efforts to achieve a seat at the table will ultimately provide widespread benefits as Pitt becomes a stronger place to work and learn,” said Bernie Hall, the USW District 10 director who represents about 50,000 Steelworkers in Pennsylvania. “We welcome Pitt grads into our union and look forward to helping them bargain a first contract that reflects their work as researchers and educators.”