Penn State and the Teamsters have reached an agreement on universal masking

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A union representing about 2,700 Penn State employees has come to an agreement with the university on its universal masking policy, meaning all employees at Penn State are now required to be masked indoors while on campus.

The nature of the full agreement, which was announced Monday, was not made known. But it went into effect immediately for Teamsters Local Union No. 8, which consists of workers in hospitality, maintenance, landscaping and various other support roles at University Park and the Commonwealth campuses.

“This will protect the safety and health of our workers and allow our members to receive paid time off from the university if faced with isolation or quarantine,” local Teamsters President Jon Light said in a written statement. “I’m glad to see that Penn State values the work our members do day in and day out and allows them the security of receiving a paycheck if affected by the pandemic.”

Penn State tweaked its mask policy Aug. 4, requiring all students, faculty, staff and visitors — both vaccinated and unvaccinated — to mask up while inside campus buildings. However, because masks weren’t mandated at the state level, the union and university needed to reach a separate agreement to compel the union to follow the new mask policy.

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Several sources said last week they spotted union workers entering buildings without masks, and concern grew surrounding the spread of COVID-19 without a large segment of employees following the same mask policy. The union represents just under 9% of all Penn State employees.

But, one week before the start of class, the two came to a mutual agreement. Although the union was not required to follow the mask policy as recently as last week, it is now.

“We are very pleased that we were able to come to an agreement with the Teamsters on this important aspect of our health and safety plan at Penn State,” said Lorraine Goffe, vice president for human resources and chief human resources officer at Penn State. “Our technical-service employees every day play a critical role in university operations and play an important role in helping to minimize the spread of COVID-19. By partnering with our frontline workers on universal masking protocols, we are enhancing the university’s mitigation efforts and supporting our overall plans for a successful fall semester.”

The first day of class will be Monday.