Teachers pact talks move to mediation

Talks continue this week with the district’s nonteaching staff.

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

AUSTINTOWN — The school district is continuing to negotiate new contracts with teachers and nonteaching staff, and talks with teachers are moving to mediation.

Superintendent Doug Heuer said Monday that mediation will start Sept. 20. The federal mediation is nonbinding.

Meanwhile, teachers will work under the terms of their old contract, which expires next Tuesday, said Heuer and Sandy DeCerbo, Austintown Education Association president.

The same holds true for Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local No. 194. Union members, which include cleaning, maintenance and food service workers, bus drivers, paraprofessionals and secretaries, are working under the terms of their contract that expired June 30.

OAPSE talks are not in mediation. Bonnie Grantz, union president, said negotiations are continuing this week.

“I think it’s going to be a long road on both sides,” Grantz said.

DeCerbo and Heuer both used the word “amicable” to describe negotiations with teachers.

Heuer said the mediator will help to “find some common ground on language issues.” DeCerbo concurred. Neither side will go into details about issues at this point.

Common option

Alf Nelson, a labor consultant for Ohio Education Association, has been at the table with AEA and the district. Mediation, Nelson said, is a common occurrence.

He said the mediator will hear both sides and make suggestions to help talks progress. He said that if mediation fails, the worst-case scenario would be a strike.

He said binding arbitration is another option, but both parties would have to agree to enter into it. It is an option that’s rarely used, he said, because of wariness toward allowing a third party to make the decisions.

“After 34 years in this business, I can say it’s exceptionally rare,” he said.

He said that of the 10 Mahoning County teachers unions in bargaining sessions this year, those for Austintown and Mahoning County Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities are the last to settle.

He said no one can know at this point how long the mediation stage will take.

DeCerbo said she’s optimistic.

“Hopefully it will be done soon and we can get back to the business of teaching,” she said.