MEADD extends contract deadline

The next negotiation session will be Sept. 9.
AUSTINTOWN -- The professional staff of the Mahoning County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities will remain on the job pending labor negotiations later this month.
The bargaining committee for the union -- the Mahoning Education Association of Developmental Disabilities -- decided Tuesday to extend the strike deadline past 12:01 a.m. today because it believed progress was being made in the talks, said Mary Jo Nagy, MEADD vice president.
The two sides met for seven hours Tuesday with federal mediator Thomas Connelly, and the union conducted a two-hour informational meeting for its membership late Tuesday night.
Representation
MEADD represents 185 professional staff at the Leonard Kirtz School and three adult workshops and board secretaries.
Connelly will again be present when the next negotiating session is Sept. 9. Even if the union isn't satisfied with the progress of talks later this month, there would be a grace period because the union would have to issue another notice 10 working days in advance of any strike, Nagy said.
Citing a request by Connelly that neither side discuss details with the press, neither Nagy, nor Larry Duck, MRDD superintendent, would talk about specifics of the negotiations.
Duck earlier had said money issues, including wages and health insurance, are at the heart of the dispute.
The board also has been negotiating with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1143, whose contract also was to expire at midnight Tuesday, but that union agreed to a 30-day extension.
AFSCME represents about 85 employees, including custodians, bus drivers, bus aides, mechanics and cooks.