Point Park University Full-Time Faculty Unit NewsGuild/CWA Local 38061

On November 2021 our second contractual agreement (the CBA) was reached with the administration of Point Park University. Since 2017 all full-time faculty at Point Park University have been members of the Point Park unit of the NewsGuild/CWA. Together with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette unit, chartered in 1934, we form Local 38061 of the NewsGuild/CWA (Communications Workers of America).

When our first CBA ended in June 2021, we entered negotiations with the administration for a new contract. These negotiations lasted more than four months — and included faculty members engaging in collective action to push the administration for a new contract, including flyering and wearing union buttons. On October 26, 2021, we organized a street rally to demand a fair contract that drew the attention of students and the local press. A few days later the administration conceded to our key demands — and an agreement was reached. The agreement includes increases in the salary floors at all ranks and in professional development funds, a reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest salary ranks, and greater faculty say in governance.

On November 10, 2021, faculty ratified the agreement, voting unanimously (72-0) in favor.

How we got here – A Brief History

In an election held May 26, 2004 and certified on July 9, 2004,  Point Park faculty voted 49-14 to unionize and recognized the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh/CWA (Communications Workers of America), Local 38061, AFL–CIO as the exclusive bargaining representative for the faculty – union. The vote was challenged by Point Park University, which argued professors at private institutions are actually in managerial positions. The case attracted national attention as it wound its way through the National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. Court of Appeals — with rulings going against the school, and the school appealing those rulings. In July of 2015 the University decided to drop its legal appeals and begin the collective bargaining process. 

Negotiations, which began with the University in 2016, covered everything from the location of (one) acceptable bulletin board to academic freedom, job security and intellectual property rights. Workload, pay, and benefits remained sticking points until the very end of negotiations. After about 40 bargaining sessions over seventeen months, a deal was struck when negotiators on behalf of the full-time faculty approved their first union contract with the Point Park administration. The four-year agreement, which runs through 2021, includes major improvements in wages and working conditions. Full-time faculty ratified the agreement voting 96 (approve) to 6 (oppose) and adopted the CBA.

In a joint statement, union and administration officials credited each other for having “worked diligently and creatively in an effort to agree on a contract that satisfies the interests of each party.”

Significantly, in successfully reaching a CBA with Point Park University, the full-time faculty are in rare company among private colleges and universities in the region as few other faculties benefit from union representation/membership.