Panel wants personnel changes

One proposal calls for all new faces at the next bargaining table.
By HAROLD GWIN
Vindicator education writer
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two top administrators involved in employee contract negotiations have outlived their usefulness to Youngstown State University, and a third should be replaced as director of faculty relations, one group says.
Those were among the strongest conclusions of the university Labor-Management Review Panel appointed by YSU President David Sweet to look for ways to improve labor-management relations after strikes by both the university's classified employees and faculty unions in August.
Both strikes ended with three-year agreements just before the start of fall classes, but they left behind some bitter feelings. Getting past those feelings and forging improved labor-management relations was a task the panel was to examine.
The panel's report doesn't specifically say that John Habat, vice president for administration and finance, and Hugh Chatman, executive director for human resources and labor relations, should be fired, but the implication is clear.
"It is the recommendation of this panel that neither Mr. John Habat nor Mr. Hugh Chatman can serve effectively at the university in any capacity," the report read.
Chatman served on both the administrative bargaining teams in negotiations with the faculty and classified employee unions at YSU. Habat was a member of the administrative team on the faculty contract.
The panel also recommended that a new director of faculty relations be appointed and that the position report to the provost, not to the president.
Dr. Thomas Maraffa holds that title now, as well as that of special assistant to the president and coordinator of the enrollment maintenance plan.
Responses
Chatman had no comment on the report when it was released Friday, saying he hadn't had a chance to read it.
Habat, in a prepared statement, said he was "disappointed and a little surprised by one of the more significant recommendations."
The critical issues that led to the strike were the trustees' directive that employees contribute to their health care and the administration's desire to create a wage structure that paid classified support staff at the market median, he said.
A deeper reason for the strike was an "aggressive resistance to an administration that was trying to change an environment and its philosophy of entitlement," he said.
He knew the positions of the board and administration would cause labor relations discord, but he felt the objectives were appropriate, reasonable and equitable, he said.
The university has to change in response to economic realities, Habat said, adding "Tough choices have to be made and those willing to make the tough decisions need to be supported."
Maraffa said he wrote a draft memo when negotiations ended last fall offering to step down as director of faculty relations and suggesting that the position be moved to the provost's office. He said he's still willing to step down and will stay on with the president's office to fulfill his other duties.
The panel was critical of Sweet's decisions to delegate authority in labor relations, saying the practice isn't working, calling on him to take the lead in improving that climate and suggesting that several key parties need to be replaced.
What Sweet said
Sweet, while thanking the panel for its hard work and dedication, said he regretted the singling out of specific names in its report, and he took time to praise Habat's five years of work on behalf of the university.
Sweet, noting he's known Habat for more than 25 years as a professional colleague and friend, said he's asked Habat to take on a wide range of assignments for the university with the full support of the board of trustees and himself.
"He has provided effective leadership in the areas of budget, financial affairs, facilities and human resources," Sweet said, citing Habat's successful efforts to help YSU restore its credibility with the state auditor's office.
Sweet didn't address the recommendations dealing with his administrators, but did seize on the panel's suggestion that a change of negotiation team participants on all sides should be made.
"I am announcing today that all members of the administrative bargaining teams for both the faculty and classified contracts will resign their positions on the teams and will not participate in the next round of negotiations," he said.
"I am requesting that all members of the bargaining teams for the faculty and classified unions do the same."
Union officials weren't so quick to react, pointing out that, unlike the administrative teams that were appointed by the president, the union negotiators were elected by their union memberships.
Christine Domhoff, president of the 400-member Association of Classified Employees, said she wasn't ready to say what she will do until her executive committee can review the panel's recommendations and see what Sweet will do with the proposals.
"It's really a membership issue," said Dr. Stanley Guzell, chief negotiator for the 380-member faculty union. He said that there will be new union elections before the next round of talks and new faces may appear on the bargaining team as a result.
Union's stance
Dr. Julia Gergits, president of the faculty union, said the union hasn't had time to fully consider the recommendations. She said faculty representatives want to meet with the panel for clarifications. Both she and Domhoff said they were grateful for the panel's work.
"I think it was quite sweeping," Domhoff said.
Sweet said his initial review of the report shows there appear to be many constructive recommendations. It will require both management and the leaders of the labor unions to work together to re-establish trust and respect, he said.
The seven-member panel, headed by Provost Robert K. Herbert, met 14 times, heard testimony from more than 40 individuals and received 30 written submissions before drafting its recommendations.
Other panel members are: Eugenia Atkinson, executive director of the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority; Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112; Atty. Dennis Haines; James Morrison, retired professor and former chairman of YSU's psychology department; Atty. John Pogue, vice chairman of the YSU board of trustees; and Tom Shipka, professor and chairman of YSU's philosophy and religious studies and chairman of the Academic Senate.
Some of its other recommendations are:
UDon't include lawyers on the negotiating teams.
UOpen the university's economic circumstances to scrutiny by all parties before negotiations begin.
UDeal with heath care as a separate issue in negotiations.
UImpose a news blackout in negotiations.
UAll parties should seek to resolve work-related matters without resorting to the grievance procedure.
UThe president should appoint an ombudsman for nonfaculty employees to parallel the function of the director of faculty relations.
UThe president should establish a standing Labor-Management Council.
UBoth sides should limit contract proposals to key issues and not try to rewrite entire labor agreements.
UThe university should rehire Domhoff, whose position at the YSU Metro College was eliminated last July, a move deemed by the classified union as an attack on its leadership.