2 YSU unions seek vote on their fusion

By Harold Gwin

The merger would require a 50 percent-plus-one ‘Yes’ vote in both unions.

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.

The joining of the two unions into a single unit “has always been a thought,” Trapp said, adding that she urged the union leadership in both groups to pursue the issue based on the current atmosphere on campus.

APAS is in negotiations on a new contract to replace a three-year agreement that expires at the end of June. ACE got a new three-year pact last summer but has been battling with the university over some details of that contract.

ACE has also filed an unfair labor practice charge with SERB against the university over YSU’s banning of ACE President Ivan Maldonado from campus as a result of a menacing complaint filed against him by another ACE union member.

Included in that unfair labor practice charge is an allegation that the university is trying to discredit and neutralize the ACE leadership as ACE and APAS passed out authorization for representation cards to bargaining unit members indicating an interest in consolidating the two bargaining units.

Trapp said the university has indicated it doesn’t want the two unions to merge.

YSU spokesman Ron Cole said that, at this time, the university is trying to assess the exact ramifications of such a merger that would have a significant impact on the manner in which labor contracts are negotiated on campus.

The university will monitor the situation as it progresses, he said.

Trapp said the merger movement wouldn’t affect the current APAS negotiations. The plan would be to have everyone under a single contract at some point in the future, she said, adding that she’d like to see the faculty union eventually become a part of that arrangement as well.

There have been no talks with the faculty union about any merger at this time, she said.

APAS represents librarians, counselors, academic advisers, athletic trainers, recruiters and marketing and communications staff.

ACE represents administrative assistants, secretaries, computer center employees, grounds-keepers, trades workers, maintenance employees, media people and more.

gwin@vindy.com