Austintown, non-teaching staff reach tentative pact

AUSTINTOWN — Negotiators from the Austintown Local School District and the non-teaching Ohio Association of Professional School Employees Local 191 reached a tentative agreement Thursday night on a two-year contract.

The agreement, reached after more than four hours of negotiations, pays the 225 cafeteria workers, secretaries, custodians, sweeper-cleaners, mechanics, groundskeepers, maintenance personnel and paraprofessionals 1 percent more in the first year of the contract and no increase in the second year.

The contract, which runs from July 1, 2007, through August 31, 2009, results in employees increasing their contribution to health care from their current 3.5 percent to 10 percent.

OAPSE members will meet Wednesday for a ratification vote. If the union approves the agreement, the school board will meet Thursday to give its approval.

The school district reached an agreement over the winter with the teachers union.