YSU negotiator on leave due to labor pact

The classified employees’ contract that was ratified in July is now stirring up university controversy.

Staff Report

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State University Board of Trustees has placed Craig Bickley, chief human resources officer and chief negotiator for the university, on administrative leave for an undetermined period of time.

The action, announced at a special meeting Thursday, is a result of concerns raised about the Association of Classified Employees’ three-year contract that was approved by the board in July.

Bickley was the lead representative for the university administration during the contract negotiations.

YSU’s board ratified the contract in a 7-1 vote, with member Harry Meshel dissenting on grounds at the time that the contract was “overly generous.”

Under the contract, 380 nonfaculty employees were to receive annual pay increases of 2.5 percent the first year, followed by 2.5 and 2.6 percent the second and third years, respectively.

“There has to be a limit imposed somewhere, and I think we’ve gone beyond it,” Meshel said in a Vindicator article published July 30.

While Meshel was against the contract, Dr. David C. Sweet, YSU president, and Ivan Maldonado, ACE president, praised the ratification.

“The approval of this contract is yet another reason to celebrate as YSU marks its centennial year,” Sweet said at the time.

“This contract reflects a new era in labor relations at YSU,” echoed Maldonado in July. “It’s a new day. We’re moving forward.”

The contract was meant to align YSU job classifications with most recent state job classification system, according to trustees.

Earlier this fall, however, senior administrators noticed “at least one employee’s job duties remained the same, but the employee’s annual salary increased by over $20,000 or approximately 36 percent,” trustees said in a prepared statement.

The employee was not identified by the university.

“At this time ... at least one employee benefited substantially more than any other ACE employee. The university’s attempts to resolve this issue have been unsuccessful,” the statement continued.

The university would not comment on the contract negotiations involving Bickley and ACE representatives. Maldonado also declined to comment on what he called “unfounded allegations,” but noted a statement will be released from the ACE organization in the near future.

After discovering the $20,000 pay increase, YSU contacted the Ohio Attorney General’s office, and the state launched an investigation.

The Ohio Attorney General’s office concluded that the intent of the ACE contract was to align YSU’s classification system with the state’s system, but “the classification plan put into place was not an exact match with the state plan,” according to the trustees’ Thursday statement.

The trustees’ statement included a pledge to amend the issue quickly by having the administration implement Ohio’s job classification system for all YSU members of ACE.

“I still feel the same as I felt then [July],” Meshel said Thursday. He said he is glad the board is dealing with the “incorrect and misleading” information that was provided during negotiations.

“Serious mistakes can be made, but this put a dark shadow over the good that was being attempted,” he said.

Bickley was named the chief human resources officer in August 2007. He previously was the executive director of human resources for Columbus Public Schools, according to Vindicator files.

In 2003, while still in Columbus, Bickley was accused of fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits. While interviewing for the chief human resources officer post, “Bickley advised YSU that he was completely cleared” of those charges, according to a university press release announcing his hiring.