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Penn housekeepers, grounds workers, and transportation workers in Teamsters Local 115 are celebrating a hard-fought contract victory. A campaign led by rank-and-file members won an end to the inequitable two-tier wage system that pays different hourly rates for the same work. Their new contract will phase out two-tier pay over a 5-year period, with annual raises between 3.5–4% putting all housekeepers on a progression to the top-level wage ($28.68/hr) by 2026.

This is a tremendous win in a fight taking place at so many workplaces for equal pay for equal work. Bargaining surveys, rallies at the union hall and on campus, flyers and messaging in multiple languages, outreach to new members, and the determination to vote no if necessary made it happen. Member-led organizing gets the goods! Our warmest congratulations to the Teamsters 115 members who didn’t back down on their core demand and showed us all what’s possible. Solidarity!

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On June 21, members of at least nine campus and local unions along with several regional organizers and national trade unionists got together outside for drinks and solidarity on the rooftop garden at Cira Green. We hope this Labor Solidarity Happy Hour will be the first of many meet-ups of organized and organizing workers at Penn and in Philly so that we can stay connected, support each other’s campaigns, and build strong coalitions across job categories and institutions. Cheers to everyone who joined us, and let’s do it again soon!

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Please mark your calendars and plan to come on Tuesday (6/21) 4:30–6 to Cira Green rooftop park/bar to have a drink together with AAUP–Penn members and many friends across unions at our first Labor Solidarity Happy Hour! Feel free to share the flyer and bring friends, kids, etc.

It should be a nice, relaxed occasion to catch up and to connect with library workers, grad workers and faculty across ranks, staff, Penn Museum and Philadelphia Museum of Art workers, maintenance and grounds workers and bus drivers in Teamsters Local 115, and folks from other locals and campus orgs. Excited to see you there!

N.B. We’ve chosen an outdoor location with Covid safety in mind, and masking is encouraged when you’re not eating or drinking. Alternatively, if you are out of town or avoiding in-person social events and would like to attend a separate zoom happy hour: please let us know via this form.

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Get ready for a week of rallies at Penn and in Philly!

  • Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 14) evening, come join museum workers in the Philadelphia Museum of Art Union (AFSCME DC47 Local 397) on the Rocky steps at 6pm for a big rally for a fair contract. These workers have kept the Museum running but have been without a contract for 22 months; they need fair pay, affordable health insurance, and protection from harassment at work. Help them send a clear message to the Museum that enough is enough; the time for a fair contract is now! If you can’t be there in person, you can also support them by contributing to their strike fund.
  • And if you are on or near campus this Wednesday, June 15, come stand with Teamsters Local 115—Penn maintenance workers, grounds workers, and bus drivers—at 3pm on College Green for their next rally for a fair contract and against the racist two-tier wage system (flyers for both rallies below).

Let’s show these workers at the Museum and on our campus that we stand with them!

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Members of Teamsters Local 115 (representing Penn housekeeping, maintenance workers and more) and the Philly Security Officers Union rallied together in front of College Hall today (June 2, 2022) for a fair contract with wage increases, no givebacks of their benefits, and an end to the racist two-tier wage system that pays different hourly rates for the same work. AAUP–Penn members came out to rally in support of this coalition of more than 700 essential workers who have kept our campus running through a pandemic and whose work deserves respect. We stand in solidarity with them as they demand equal pay for equal work at Penn and a fair contract now.

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This Thursday 6/2 at 11am, there will be a labor solidarity rally on our campus in support of university workers (maintenance and housekeeping workers, building security workers, and more) in Teamsters Local 115 and the Philly Security Officers Union. This recently forged Coalition of Essential Workers United for a Fair Contract represents more than 700 campus workers at Penn who are fighting against harassment from management and for a fair contract that protects their benefits and puts an end to the racist two-tier wage scale.

Let’s give them our support by joining the rally on College Green. Wear your AAUP shirt or button and make a sign if you can, but either way please come out and show your solidarity with everyone who works at Penn!

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  • Indiana Graduate Workers (who organized in a right-to-work state!) are still on strike for recognition. The University relies on their teaching, yet grad workers in many departments are paid stipends of less than $18,000 a year—well below the cost of living. They have the endorsement of the Bloomington Faculty Council, the IU Graduate and Professional Student Government, more than 25 academic departments, nearly 600 individual faculty and staff, and AAUP, but their university refuses to recognize them. If you wish to support those walking the picket line, you can do so by contributing to the ICWC-UE strike fund.
  • And here in Philly, PJB Workers United (representing Starbucks workers at multiple stores as well as café workers at Old City Coffee, Good Karma Café, and Korshak Bagels) will be rallying against union-busting TODAY, May 1 at 5pm on the north side of City Hall. Come out and stand with them if you can!
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Our friends at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have asked for AAUP–Penn’s support in their rally for a fair contract. Philly’s excellent art museum couldn’t run without these excellent museum workers, but many of them can’t afford the museum’s health insurance, earn 30-60% below median pay for their jobs, and haven’t had a raise in years despite rapid inflation and unstable working conditions. Please come out with us to the PMA this Friday, April 1 at 5pm to stand with them!

A group of us will be there in our new AAUP t-shirts, and we’re asking everyone who can to join us and help show our chapter’s solidarity. We will meet on the west side of the museum facing the Waterworks and Boat House Row. Hope to see you there!

P.S. If you can’t make it, you can still help out by emailing the PMA’s Board of Trustees here; it’s very easy.

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We are sure our fellow members didn’t miss the late-breaking University Notification on March 24th announcing that Penn is reversing course on its previous 3/15 announcement and extending masking in classrooms. A lot of people who work and study on this campus are breathing a sigh of relief today. Our chapter’s collective action and advocacy made a difference here, and it was great to see the DP’s coverage showing that many students share the same concerns about safety and equity in the spaces where they work and study. Getting this policy reversed so quickly shows what we can do together. Thanks to everyone for contributing to this effort, and let’s keep up the momentum!

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