Comments from YSU official deserve further exploration

With his future as a key member of Youngstown State University's administration now a topic of intense debate on campus, John Habat has proffered a reason for last August's strikes by the classified and faculty unions: intransigent employees.
Habat, whose termination has been recommended by the Labor-Management Review Panel created by President David Sweet, says there is an "aggressive resistance to an administration that was trying to change an environment and its philosophy of entitlement."
Such a harsh assessment of the employees demands a fuller explanation, not only from Habat, but from his boss, Dr. Sweet. And, the seven members of the commission named by the president should also weigh in since they spent many weeks analyzing the causes of the strikes and developing recommendations to improve the labor-management climate on campus.
The main observation by the panel was that neither Habat, vice president for administration and finance, nor Hugh Chatman, executive director for human resources and labor relations, "can serve effectively at the university in any capacity." In other words, the panel believes these two important members of Sweet's team should be fired.
The president has thus far remained silent about Habat's and Chatman's futures. However, he did publicly give his right-hand-man, Habat, a vote of confidence, saying he has "provided effective leadership in the areas of budget, financial affairs, facilities and human resources."
Sweet also said Habat was asked to take a wide range of assignments for the university with the full support of the board of trustees and himself.
Health care contributions
Given that, the vice president's opinion that the strikes last year were the result of employees being upset because they were asked to contribute to their health care and because the administration wanted to create a wage structure that paid classified support staff the market median should not be left hanging.
For starters, was he echoing the sentiments of the president and the board of trustees? Do they believe there is a "philosophy of entitlement" that is undermining the ability of the university to make tough choices? And, is there a lack of support for those willing to make tough decisions?
Whatever Sweet decides with regard to Habat and Chatman, there needs to be a public discussion about the attitude of the public employees who make up YSU's population. Why? Because in March the board of trustees is expected to take up the president's request for a 6 percent tuition increase and an integral part of the deliberation must be whether public funds are being spent responsibly.
Are there changes in the operation of the university -- read that, the way the employees perform their duties -- the administration has been trying to implement that would save money?
Did union members go on strike because they want all the gains from working in the public sector with none of the pain private sector employees have been feeling for a long time?