NEWTON FALLS Schools will remain open in case of a strike

More talks between the two sides are set for today.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NEWTON FALLS -- Classes will continue if 52 employees of the school district strike next week, officials said.
The Newton Falls Association of Classified Employees filed an intent-to-strike notice Tuesday morning with the board of education. The union said that if an agreement is not reached, members will walk out beginning at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 11.
In an effort to avert a strike, both sides will meet with a federal mediator at 5 p.m. today. It marks the third time the parties have met with the mediator since the beginning of this month.
Terri Pigg, spokeswoman for the NFACE, said members of the negotiating team had been authorized to file the intent-to-strike notice as they saw fit.
"We left everything up to the negotiating team," she said. "We have all the trust in the world in them."
Pigg said, to date, school officials have not made any offers that satisfy the negotiating team.
NFACE represents custodians, bus drivers, secretaries, mechanics and aides. Their contract expired June 30, but employees returned to work at the beginning of the year under the terms of the old agreement.
Seven bargaining sessions took place in August, but an impasse was declared in September. A federal mediator was brought in Oct. 2.
To stay open
Schools Superintendent Linda Clapp said schools will remain open in the event the union does strike.
"The teachers, who are under a different union, will still report to work and keep things running," she said.
She added that board of education members plan to call a special meeting soon to pass a strike resolution, which would instruct the district to remain operating despite the strike.
Both Clapp and Pigg said they hoped tonight's talks would be beneficial.
"This talk was scheduled before the intent-to-strike notice was filed, and we are still intending on going in and trying to work things out," Clapp said.
According to the Ohio Education Association, the parent union of NFACE, the sides are split on a number of issues, but the union "does not intend to discuss the issues in public because state law mandates that bargaining should be done in private."
slshaulis@vindy.com