Niles pact talks go to arbitrator

A second mediation session is set for next week, if needed.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- With less than a month left in the current contract, Niles school administrators and the teachers union are meeting with a federal arbitrator.
The first session took place Tuesday at the Ohio Education Association office in Warren, said Superintendent Rocco N. Adduci.
"Hopefully, everything goes good from this point on," he said.
Adduci said he could not discuss the sticking points in negotiations.
The last bargaining session between the two sides was July 23, said John E. Mahoney, president of the Niles Classroom Teachers Association, which has more than 200 members.
He said another session with the mediator is scheduled for Tuesday, if needed.
Previous pact
A one-year pact between the two sides, which essentially extended the previous contract, expires Aug. 28.
In that agreement, the teachers union agreed to no pay raises and also blended the union's two health-care plans into one package. The pact does preserve step increases but does not allow for cost of living increases.
The previous pact was also a factor in State Auditor Betty Montgomery's decision earlier this year not to place Niles City Schools into fiscal emergency status.
Local school officials in April cited successful contract negotiations with the teachers and the classified employees union, as well as other cost-cutting steps taken in a bid to avoid the state assuming financial control of the district.
The latest federal mediation sessions are the second round of contract talks for administrators and the board of education, who met for months with the Ohio Association of Public Schools Employees Local 365, which represents support staff in the city's schools.
A retroactive, two-year contract for that union included wage freezes for both years, as well as a switch the same insurance carrier representing the teachers union.
That contract expires Aug. 31, 2005.
slshaulis@vindy.com