Committee OKs pact with raises

Trustees tabled a proposal for insurance benefits for those called to serve.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The 117 members of the Association of Professional and Administrative Staff at Youngstown State University will receive 3-percent raises per year over the next three years, based on a contract approved by a committee of the YSU Board of Trustees.
The union must ratify the contract, which also faces review by the full board.
The Internal Affairs Committee approved the contract Thursday. It also gives union members 1-percent pay increases if YSU's full-time enrollment jumps to 10,680. It was 10,171 last fall.
Some classifications in the APAS union got raises of varying amounts last month, retroactive to July 1, 2002.
They were based on a report by Buck Consultants of Cleveland that showed the employees were underpaid relative to their counterparts at similar institutions.
Similar to other raises
The raises approved Thursday are similar to those given to other union members over the past year.
University police and dispatchers were given 3-percent raises per year in a three-year contract adopted last month.
The board approved a three-year contract in August with faculty, giving 3.5-percent annual raises and a $1,000 lump-sum payment. Also in August, support staff got 3-percent raises per year for three years, with bonuses of up to $600 for increases in enrollment.
No employees contribute to their health care costs.
Trustees Joseph S. Nohra and F.W. Knecht III voted against the APAS contract, based on a provision that says members are entitled to family and medical leave to care for ailing domestic partners, whether or not they are married, a provision approved in previous contracts.
Health co-pay issue
Internal Affairs Committee members removed from their agenda a resolution that would have required the university's nonunion employees to pay 10 percent of their health insurance premiums. The resolution also stated that the board intends to abide by all provisions of employee contracts but desires cost-sharing participation by all university employees at some time.
Trustees in March had asked YSU president David Sweet to look into a cost-sharing plan.
The committee unanimously tabled a resolution that would have allowed employees who are called to active military duty to keep university health benefits throughout the approved leave. Some trustees expressed concern over the cost.
Those on military leave and their families get medical care through the federal government, said Hubert L. Chatman, executive director of human resources and labor relations, but the government plan is more restrictive.