Duquesne police end strike

The Duquesne police union went on strike on April 17, following months of failed negotiations between the union and the school administration. This came as a response to the last-ditch negotiations between the union and the University, with the union seeking to maintain pension and healthcare benefits, and the university seeming unwilling to budge on the issue.

With no deal on the horizon since October of 2022, Teamsters Local 249 felt that they had no other option but to go on strike. According to Vice President Keith Frank, “It’s wages. It’s retirement. There are issues with seniority and health care. What is pushing us to this point right now is they are acting in bad faith.”

According to the union, Duquesne has refused to increase the police’s pay without removing funding from their benefits, a deal which the union does not feel is fair considering the work the 28 members of the Duquesne police put into the school.

At the time, Duquesne responded by stating that they’d operated in good faith with the police union, and the most recent agreement represented the highest wage increase since 2006. The university believed its package was sufficient and the Duquesne Chief of Police stated that the university would still be ready and capable of handling problems on campus, even with the strike in progress.

The strike ended Tuesday night, following quick negotiations between the Teamsters and Duquesne. The union reported that the two parties had agreed to a three-year contract with the university, with terms amenable to both parties. Little else has come out of the negotiations.