YSU New pacts will cost extra $5.2 million

The Association of Classified Employees union ratified its contract Wednesday.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University will have to come up with an additional $5.2 million over the next three years to pay for raises and fringe benefit increases for faculty and classified union employees.
The Association of Classified Employees voted Wednesday to ratify its new contact. The faculty union approved its agreement Aug. 28.
The university released contract costs Wednesday, saying that the 380-member faculty union will get salary and fringe benefit increases totaling $3.92 million in a new three-year contract.
However, that cost will be reduced by $827,000 that the faculty will, for the first time, pay in premium-sharing contributions for heath-care insurance.
The 400-member Association of Classified Employees will get salary and benefit increases totaling $2.56 million over that same period, but that number will be reduced by $414,000 because of insurance premium sharing contributions by the employees, a first for them as well.
Net increase
The net increase for the two unions will total $5.2 million, though that number could rise slightly over the three years, based on projected increases in the overall cost of health-care insurance.
Still, the costs are within the university's budget, provided that YSU secures the amount of revenue anticipated over the life of the contracts, said John Habat, vice president for administration.
The university gets its revenue from two primary sources: tuition, which makes up 70 percent of the $131 million general fund, and state funding, which covers the rest, Habat said.
The state support has been declining in recent years while tuition, which stands at $6,300 a year, has been steadily increasing, he said.
The only other way to offset rising costs is by making cuts, something that is difficult to do in an institution that is already pretty lean, Habat said.
Some 302 members of ACE showed up for the contract ratification vote at First Christian Church on Wick Avenue.
The contract was accepted, but the union declined to reveal the exact vote.
The numbers are "pointless," said Christine Domhoff, ACE president, explaining that the union membership is ready to move on.
It may not be everything employees wanted, but it is an agreement the membership can live with for three years, she said.
Challenges administration
She called on the university administration to "step up" and accept the same health insurance concessions accepted by the union.
That includes contributing 1.5 percent of base pay for family health care insurance or 0.75 percent for individual coverage beginning Aug. 15, 2006, as well as increased co-payments for prescriptions and doctor's visits and coordination of insurance benefits for working spouses who have access to insurance outside the university, Domhoff said.
The group went on strike Aug. 16 but reached tentative agreement on a new contract in the early hours of Aug. 29, the same day that classes started.
The YSU Board of Trustees has ratified the faculty contract but hasn't scheduled a vote on the ACE agreement, though two board committees have recommended that the pact be approved.
ACE members will get pay raises of 3 percent in both the first and second years of the contract and 3.25 percent in the third.
The agreement creates a lower pay scale for newly hired employees but also provides an early retirement incentive, something a large number of union members wanted, Domhoff said.
Faculty members are getting pay raises of 3 percent in the first year and 3.5 percent in both the second and third years.
They will also have to contribute the same percentage for health care insurance beginning with the fall term 2006. The faculty contract reduces the pay scale for retired faculty who come back to teach classes.