Student organizers confident as unionization decision nears
By Erica Guthrie, Assistant News Editor
August 26, 2019
Pitt and the graduate student organizers trying to establish a union at the University took their final legal step last week before the state labor board determines whether or not the University engaged in unfair labor practices during the elections held last spring.
Pitt paid almost $240K to “union avoidance” law firm in recent years
By Jon Moss, News Editor
May 14, 2019
A “union avoidance” law firm received a large windfall of legal fees from Pitt, according to previously unreported University financial disclosure reports.
Grad students vote against unionization, organizers reissue call for new election
By Jon Moss and Neena Hagen
May 3, 2019
The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board officially declared Friday morning that the majority of graduate students at Pitt voted against unionization in the April 15-18 election.
Grad union organizers call for new election, accuse Pitt of “unfair labor practices”
By Neena Hagen, Senior Staff Writer
May 2, 2019
Less than a week ago, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board declared the grad student unionization vote inconclusive. Now, organizers are calling on the board to set aside those election results and schedule a new election.
After years-long campaign, grad students await outcome of union vote
By Neena Hagen, Senior Staff Writer
April 18, 2019
Organizers wearing pro-union T-shirts high-fived and cheered for the last few dozen graduate students as they trickled into the second-floor ballroom of the O’Hara Student Center Thursday afternoon to cast their votes in the union election. They were celebrating the culmination of a years-long campaign t...
Grad students to vote on unionization this week
By Neena Hagen, Senior Staff Writer
April 15, 2019
After several years of campaigning, rallying and dealing with University opposition, Pitt’s graduate students will vote on whether or not to form a union this week.
Elizabeth Warren “100% behind” Pitt grad student union
By Emily Wolfe, Assistant News Editor
April 9, 2019
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., encouraged the union hopefuls in a short video posted to social media Tuesday.
Grad students will decide union question starting April 15
By Joanna Li, News Editor
March 25, 2019
PLRB announced on Thursday the dates and times of polling locations on campus. The election is intended to allow more than 2,000 graduate students to vote to join a union. In order to form a union, a simple majority of the grad student population, or more than 50 percent, needs to vote yes.
Pitt attempting to obstruct grad student union election, organizers claim
By Emily Wolfe, Assistant News Editor
March 12, 2019
The United Steelworkers and the Graduate Student Organizing Committee expressed disappointment Tuesday in what they called Pitt’s attempts at “voter suppression.”
Labor board affirms Pitt grad students have right to unionize
By Brian Gentry, Joanna Li, and Emily Wolfe
March 7, 2019
The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board ruled Thursday that Pitt’s graduate student employees are entitled to unionize, a step forward in graduate students’ multi-year battle to form a union.
Pitt faculty see future in union
By Neena Hagen, Senior Staff Writer
February 6, 2019
To most passersby, the fliers, posters and comics adorning the office doors in the narrow corridors on the fourth floor of the Cathedral of Learning blend in with the rest of campus. But for Tyler McAndrew, a visiting lecturer in the English department and prominent faculty union organizer, the posters th...
Pitt grad students deserve right to unionize
By Delilah Bourque, Senior Staff Columnist
October 17, 2018
Graduate students may be here for an education, but at universities, including Pitt, grad students don’t just function as scholars, but employees as well. They should have the right to unionize.
University Senate Council talks grad student unions, Campus Master Plan and mental health
By Madeline Gavatorta, Staff Writer
October 11, 2018
University Senate Council engaged in conversation with the Graduate Student Organizing Committee at Wednesday's meeting.
Graduate students make their case for unionization
By Janine Faust, Managing Editor
October 9, 2018
After a week of testimony in front of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, the administration could not present all its witnesses in the original time frame allotted to them by the board.
Faculty show support for unionization
By Madeline Gavatorta | Staff Writer
January 23, 2018
Jennifer Lee, a senior English lecturer at Pitt for the last two decades, said it was luck and allies in the tenure faculty that got her the job she currently holds — and she remembers realizing how privileged she was compared to faculty who don’t have those benefits. “My very good friend and colleague — who...
Toomey’s got mail: Grad students deliver letters
By Rachel Glasser | News Editor
December 7, 2017
The Grinch is best known for stealing Christmas, but he left Whoville and showed up on the doorstep of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s Downtown office Wednesday. It was a blustery day, windy and in the low 40s, but Ph.D. epidemiology student Abby Cartus attributed the conditions to something other than ...
Union organizers talk tax bill, moving forward
By Remy Samuels | Staff Writer
December 4, 2017
Graduate students sexually harassed or assaulted by a faculty member have the option to file a claim with the Title IX office.But Hillary Lazar said a graduate student union would help hold Title IX and the University accountable, pressing the office and the administration to investigate these types ...
Pitt faculty, grads present political support for unions
By Janine Faust | Assistant News Editor
September 13, 2017
As grad students and faculty gathered outside Chancellor Patrick Gallagher’s door in the Cathedral of Learning Tuesday afternoon, a Pitt police officer cut a path to the front and addressed the crowd. “Who’s in charge here? Where’s your leader?” he asked the people clutching signs and came...
Union supporters convene at cookout
By Janine Faust | Assistant News Editor
September 4, 2017
Abby Cartus figured celebrating Labor Day surrounded by fellow union organizers and supporters was a good way to kick off the academic year. “Everybody’s just here to chill out and reconnect after being away for the summer,” Cartus said. “Then we’ll buckle back down on organizing.” Ca...
Student organizers react to admin’s union oppositon
By Kirsten Wong and John Hamilton / The Pitt News Staff
August 30, 2017
Rachel Coombs was conducting research in a biology lab in late July when she found herself enraged by an email from Pitt Provost Patricia Beeson. Coombs, a Ph.D. student studying biological sciences, read Beeson’s letter outlining the Pitt administration’s opposition to the grad student union eff...
Letter to the Editor | There is no third party. We, the students, are the union
By Beth Shaaban / PhD student
July 30, 2017
Surprise! I just returned from presenting some of my research at a conference to a union busting email from the provost. One of my personal favorite lines: “The education, not the financial support, is the goal of graduate study.” Buckle up kids, if you can’t afford your medications, rent, food ...