About 45 members of Chatham University’s full-time faculty gathered last week to begin their unionizing card-signing campaign.
Members gathered with local Pittsburgh leaders such as Mayor Ed Gainey, City Councilperson Erika Strassburger and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato.
Unionizing efforts began this past fall when Chatham laid off 20 employees, reduced faculty benefits and cut some salaries to trim its deficit, which the university has said stands at $6 million. However, Jennie Sweet-Cushman, an associate professor and union organizer of Chatham Faculty United, said efforts to unionize date back to 2015.
“There was a unionization effort in 2015 with the United Steelworkers that included full-time faculty and adjunct faculty,” Sweet-Cushman said.
At that time the university opposed full-time faculty participating because they were “managerial employees,” claiming faculty members were already making decisions about their jobs. Sweet-Cushman said faculty filed for an election, but it was canceled before a vote.
“There were just a lot of difficulties, especially with having contact information, particularly with the adjuncts. It was just really hard,” she said.
But they’re trying again, and this time, Sweet-Cushman reports over 50% of the 135-person faculty currently have indicated support to form a union; only 30% is needed for the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election.
Chatham also has the option to voluntarily recognize the union without an election, if there’s evidence that a majority of faculty want representation.
“Collective bargaining can be contentious, but we want to be partners in growing the university and strengthening the university and helping with the decision making,” Sweet-Cushman said. “I think we are uniquely positioned to be good at that. It's almost a missed opportunity to not incorporate us into those decision spaces when we're eager to be in them.”
The unionization campaign is expected to last another week.
