Duquesne University police to go on strike after latest contract negotiation

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Duquesne University police officers will go on strike Monday morning after its union and school staff could not agree on a contract. The last ditch effort didn't work, and 28 officers who patrol campus will walk off the job.

Several months after their contract expired, university officers and security are heading to the picket line.

For more than two hours, Teamsters Local 249, the union representing the university's officers met with university staff at Libermann Hall.

Vice President of the union chapter, Keith Frank, said the union's contract expired last October, and they held 19 bargaining sessions since then.

"We feel that right now the campus is going to be jeopardized with safety," Frank said.

Sunday night they tried one more time to reach a tentative agreement.

"The university has offered us an offer that we feel is in bad faith," Frank said. "They continue to keep throwing the same offer across the table. We want to be paid for the work that we do."

The issues at the top of their list included wages, retirement, healthcare, and seniority.

"They want to take away from our pension and our retirement contributions," Frank said.

Tammy Sabo is the secretary and treasurer for the union chapter.

"Not only are they not giving a good deal, they're having them take concessions and expecting them to take these concessions," Sabo said.

They also feel it raises safety concerns, especially less than one week after Pitt experienced a hoax call of an active shooter.

"This is an epidemic going across the country. I mean, the school shootings, safety should be paramount," Frank said.

In this day and age, they believe it's more important than ever for the university to bargain with them.

"Every day when there's an active shooter on campuses, men and women like the people standing behind us, they go towards that active shooter. The people sitting in that room, the people that are making these decisions, they're running the other way," Frank said.

"Duquesne University has participated in good faith contract negotiations with the union representing our police officers and security guards since August 2022. We have appreciated their willingness to talk through offers and scenarios during that time. In addition to several tentative agreements reached with the committee that would enhance working conditions, Duquesne also recently presented an offer that included the highest guaranteed wage increases since the 2001-2006 contract.

The University's total compensation package offered most recently to our police officers and security guards is among the most generous in higher education in our region and includes other significant compensation and incentives. While the Union has stated an intention to strike, Duquesne remains committed to the negotiating process with commitment to reach a resolution with the union. We respect the nature of the work our officers perform and value very much their professionalism and commitment to the safety of our students, faculty, staff, and visitors," Gabriel Welsch said. 

Welsch serves as the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Duquesne University.

The university also said the school's police chief has plans to keep campus safe and maintain normal activities but didn't provide any specifics.

KDKA contacted Pittsburgh Police to see if they've received any calls to cover the campus but haven't heard back at this time.

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