Endorsing the efforts of the Pittsburgh-area non-tenure-track faculty, including those classified as "part time" and those classified as "full time," to form unions to promote and protect their economic and social interests, and enjoins all institutions of higher education in the Pittsburgh area to remove all impediments, legal and otherwise, to forming a productive collective bargaining relationship with any union selected by the majority of the non-tenure-track faculty in a bargaining unit and to bargain with the said union in good faith.
WHEREAS, there are at least 7,000 non-tenure-track "adjunct" faculty currently working in Pittsburgh-area non-profit colleges and universities, most of whom are classified as "part time" by their employers in order to avoid having to provide them with health, retirement, and other benefits; and
WHEREAS, non-tenure-track faculty constitute more than half of the higher education faculty in the Pittsburgh area; and
WHEREAS, there are currently over 170,000 students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs in the Pittsburgh area who increasingly depend on the instruction and guidance of non-tenure-track faculty members; and
WHEREAS, students can pay up to $60,000 in tuition and living expenses every year to attend a college or university in the Pittsburgh area; and
WHEREAS, non-tenure-track faculty members should be provided with compensation and institutional support sufficient for them to carry out their vital roles in the academic pursuits of Pittsburgh's students; and
WHEREAS, most non-tenure-track faculty members, like other low-wage workers, are paid at or below the federal poverty threshold by their academic employers, and are thus often forced to take on multiple course loads or other jobs in order to make ends meet; and
WHEREAS, most non-tenure-track faculty members have no job security from one semester to the next, regardless of the quality of their work or their years of service; and
WHEREAS, most Pittsburgh-area colleges and universities do not provide health care benefits to their "part-time" non-tenure-track faculty members; and
WHEREAS, non-profit institutions of higher education are granted various benefits by the public in exchange for those institutions providing high-quality instructional and research services to the public, and those institutions are therefore obligated to meet the basic legal and moral standards of the Pittsburgh community, as well as those of the United States and the world; and
WHEREAS, those standards are well expressed in Articles 7 and 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, & Cultural rights, which provide that everyone has a right to "equal remuneration for work of equal value
, A decent living for themselves and their families
, [and] Equal opportunity for everyone to be promoted in his [or her] employment to an appropriate higher level, subject to no considerations other than those of seniority and competence"; and also provide for "The right of everyone to form trade unions and join the trade union of his [or her] choice, subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, for the promotion and protection of his [or her] economic and social interests"; and
WHEREAS, all faculty in Allegheny County, like other workers, should be paid fair wages and benefits that allow them to support themselves and their families; and
WHEREAS, the decision of whether to unionize belongs solely to workers, and should not be interfered with;
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY,
That Allegheny County Council strongly endorses the efforts of the Pittsburgh-area non-tenure-track faculty, including those classified as "part time" and those classified as "full time," to form unions to promote and protect their economic and social interests, and enjoins all institutions of higher education in the Pittsburgh area to remove all impediments, legal and otherwise, to forming a productive collective bargaining relationship with any union selected by the majority of the non-tenure-track faculty in a bargaining unit and to bargain with the said union in good faith.
PRIMARY SPONSOR: COUNCIL MEMBER GREEN HAWKINS
CO-SPONSORS: PRESIDENT DeFAZIO