New YSU pact viewed as start of new era

By Harold Gwin

Faculty members will get raises in each year of the new pact, which will require $4.5M in additional spending.

YOUNGSTOWN — The new three-year contract for Youngstown State University’s faculty union has ushered in a new era of improved labor relations — and $4.5 million in additional spending, according to negotiators on both sides of the table.

The settlement, ratified Wednesday by the YSU Board of Trustees, comes four months before the expiration of the current three-year contract, something negotiators said is unprecedented, at least in recent history.

It’s a far cry from the adversarial negotiations three years ago that led to a late summer 2005 faculty strike that ended just before the start of classes that fall.

The new contract, which the university says will cost $4.5 million in additional funding, calls for a 2.5 percent base salary increase in the first year, which begins Aug. 22, 2008, and 3.5 percent base salary increases in both the second and third years.

In addition, faculty will see an “equity adjustment” in the first year with professors getting $1,800, associate professors getting $1,600, assistant professors getting $900 and instructors getting $600.

Further, those who were hired before June 1, 2005, will get a one-time longevity increase of $50 a year for each full academic year of paid service. Full professors with eight or more years in rank will get an additional $50 a year in rank.

Approval of the contract wasn’t unanimous.

Trustee Donald Cagigas cast the lone dissenting vote, saying later that he was concerned about the effects of the agreement on the long-term financial stability of YSU.

Voting to ratify the agreement were Scott Schulick, John Pogue, Millicent Counts, Dr. Dianne Bitonte Miladore, Harry Meshel, Larry DeJane and student Trustee Stephen Foley.

Cagigas’ negative vote wasn’t against the faculty, he said, but the contract expenditures are set, and the university faces uncertainties in future revenues, particularly in the areas of state support and student enrollment. The proposed opening of a local community college in 2010 could also have at least a temporary negative effect on YSU enrollment, he said.

Those involved in the face-to-face negotiations had nothing but praise for the process.

“It was a wonderful process, a collaborative process,” said Dr. Cynthia Anderson, vice president of student affairs and head of the administration’s negotiating team.

Dr. Stanley Guzell, chief faculty negotiator, had the same title three years ago and initially feared this round of talks “would be more hostile,” but said it didn’t turn out that way.

gwin@vindy.com