SOUTHINGTON SCHOOLS Employees end 6-month strike

The tentative agreement was reached Thursday.
By PEGGY SINKOVICHand DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
SOUTHINGTON -- Six months of picket duty was worth the gains made in a new contract, says the leader of Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 673.
Details of the contract for the nine Southington schools employees have not been released. A tentative agreement was reached Thursday.
"I'll just say that absolutely, 100 percent, this strike was worth it," said Wendy Tietz, union president. "It was a negotiated settlement, and the board wanted us to just accept an implemented contract. It was worth making sure we got a negotiated settlement."
Superintendent William Pfahler said the terms of the contract are what was implemented last summer.
The two-year pact carried a 2-percent raise the first year and a 4-percent raise the second year.
Both Tietz and Pfahler said the board also agreed that there would be no reprisals once the workers returned to their jobs.
"We wanted to make sure that when we got back there, we wouldn't be fired," Tietz said.
Pfahler said the return-to-work agreement came about after a meeting between Dr. Anthony D'Ambrosio, superintendent of the Trumbull County Educational Service Center, and Debbie Bindas, a county labor leader.
Glad it's over
Tietz said she and the other eight union members are "very pleased" the strike is over.
"I'm not sure what spurred this action on the part of the board, but I thank God for it," Tietz said. "It's been a long time and I'm glad it's over."
The members include bus drivers, clerical workers and custodians. Six members of the union returned to work before the settlement was reached.
Earlier this week, a state hearing officer overturned an October decision by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services that ruled the workers had been locked out and awarded them unemployment compensation.
Pfahler said that although the school district had received bills for the unemployment from ODJFS, it hadn't paid them because the appeal was pending.
He said the State Employment Relations Board is sending a facilitator to the district today to meet with him, the former strikers and the school board. The meetings will be conducted separately to prepare both sides for returning to work side by side after what was at times a heated strike.
sinkovich@vindy.comdenise.dick@vindy.com