Two employee unions at YSU look to merge

YOUNGSTOWN — Two employee unions at Youngstown State University are looking at becoming one bargaining unit.

The Association of Classified Employees, representing nearly 400 employees, and the Association of Professional/Administrative Staff, representing about 140, have petitioned the Ohio State Employment Relations Board to have an election to combine the two.

The request was sent to SERB in late March, said Helen Trapp, Ohio Education Association labor relations consultant who represents both unions as well as the faculty union at YSU.

“We hope to have a vote soon,” she said, noting, however, that SERB is under no particular timetable to schedule one. The agency has to check the authenticity of the cards before arranging the election, she said.

Both ACE and APAS had to have at least 30 percent of their current members sign cards expressing an interest in pursuing the merger before SERB would consider the request, Trapp said. Both reached that threshold in just a few days, she said.

It would take a 50 percent-plus-one vote of the membership of each union to make the merger a reality, she said.

Read more in Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com