Greetings Faculty:

Beginning in Fall 2020 we will enter our fourth year on the four year CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) with Point Park University. The CBA remains in effect until June 30, 2021. 

CBA –  Collective Bargaining Agreement 

A Collective Bargaining Agreement is an agreement or labor contract between an employer and a union which sets forth the terms of employment for the employees who are members of that union.  Basically, the CBA is a rule book for the workplace, spelled out in writing by your union leaders and the administration of the university. The CBA contains the full-time faculty’s conditions of employment with the University. 

What the union means for the full-time faculty at Point Park

As a member of a union, you stand together, collectively, with fellow faculty to ensure that you have respect and security on the job, earn better wages and benefits, and are provided with appropriate and safe working conditions. 

The full-time faculty are protected in ways that were unavailable to you at Point Park prior to the CBA. Most importantly are the protections of Due Process, which limits the university from  terminating, suspending, or otherwise disciplining faculty, except for “just cause,” without a review process and/or grievance procedure, during which faculty have the right to union representation.

The biggest gain brough by the union contract was also the number one concern of faculty as negotiations began – to raise faculty salaries. In the years that led to the ratification of the CBA, the Administration sought to exploit the faculty with low wages that fell well below peer institutions. Raises, when they came, trailed cost of living increases and often took the form of one-time bonuses with no corresponding effect on retirement benefits which are based on salary. 

The negotiations leading to the CBA brought full-time faculty a retroactive bonus for AY 2016-17 and defined compensation in the four years that followed, with salary increases in each year of the agreement. The contract also defined minimum salary thresholds across all ranks of full-time faculty.  While the full-time faculty did not reach parity with faculty salaries of other Master’s Level Institutions in the Middle Atlantic Region, we made significant strides towards that goal. Salary increases on this level would simply not have come from the Point Park administration absent your union bargaining collectively on your behalf. 

Faculty workload was the second biggest concern heading into negotiations. In most universities 24 units per academic year, or a 4/4 course load at a university is solely relegated to positions that are strictly teaching assignments. Point Park University has expectations of service and scholarship in addition to teaching. Classroom course load remains at 24 units per academic year for most faculty under the CBA, with reductions specified for a number of administrative duties. Improvements in work requirements came through negotiations over definitions such as what constitutes teaching, service and scholarship. The definitions in the contract* replace the vague and ill defined conditions that existed prior to negotiations.

*Please read ARTICLE 21 Responsibilities of Faculty (link) carefully. You are under no obligation to do more work than what is specifically required in this section of the contract.

The CBA covers our conditions of employment and therefore it is important that members familiarize themselves with this document by reading it from beginning to end. Though certain sections dictate and describe individual components of your work life, those parts are not discrete from the rest of the contract. Language in the CBA supersedes any word of mouth interpretation of your duties and obligations you may have heard from members of the administration, including department chairs.

You can find a PDF version of the CBA here (link). Any questions you may have after reading the CBA can be addressed with your union leadership.

Other defined topics in the CBA:

Academic Freedom

Intellectual Property 

Benefits

Conflict of Commitment – conditions when you may engage in outside activities

Academic Rank

Tenure and Promotions processes

Rights of Tenured Faculty Members

Modality of Instruction

Due Process which limits the university from terminating, suspending, or otherwise disciplining faculty, except for “just cause,” without a review process and/or grievance procedure, during which faculty have the right to union representation.

Faculty Evaluation – Which faculty are required to be observed, how often, and who can do the observation

Faculty Searches

Non-Discrimination

Grievance and Arbitration – how due process proceeds

Seniority and Position Eliminations – how the University can act in the event of program eliminations