2 union officers resign at YSU

By Harold Gwin

The first vice president said some union members have attacked his integrity.

YOUNGSTOWN — Two officers in the Association of Classified Employees union at Youngstown State University have resigned their union posts.

Frank Betsa, first vice president, and Steve Katros, secretary, both stepped down from their voluntary posts as of 5 p.m. Thursday.

Katros said he resigned “for personal reasons” and declined to comment further.

Betsa couldn’t be reached to comment, but in a memo sent to the nearly 400 ACE members, he said he has been subjected to “personal attacks on my integrity and motives” from some union members.

Those attacks “have crossed the line from simple discord into flat-out misinformation and hateful rumors,” Betsa’s memo said.

“During the past several weeks I have attempted to keep things together within the unit and have failed miserably,” he wrote, adding, “I cannot put into words how disheartening things have become.”

“It has now gotten to the point where I feel that I need to think of myself and my family before the union,” he wrote.

Betsa had recently been taking on some of the on-campus presidential duties of the union after the university placed ACE President Ivan Maldonado on paid administrative leave in mid-March after a harassment complaint was filed against him by another ACE member.

Helen Trapp, of the Ohio Education Association and labor relations consultant representing both ACE and the faculty union at YSU, said she was aware that Betsa had been having some conflicts with some union members but suggested that is common for anyone in a top officer’s position.

Betsa had supporters and critics, she said, adding that she was surprised it had reached the point where he felt it necessary to resign.

Other union leaders on campus have expressed their own concerns as a result of Maldonado’s situation, she said.

A university spokesman declined to comment on the ACE officers’ resignations.

“It won’t change the way things are run,” said Christine Domhoff, former ACE president and current interim grievance officer.

Maldonado remains the union president, though he is currently banned from campus, and Second Vice President Brenda Scarborough will step up to assume additional responsibilities, Domhoff said, adding that Treasurer Kimberly Jenkins has said she isn’t leaving.

“We’ll just keep moving on,” Domhoff said, noting that all the officers’ terms expire in August, and the union will soon be seeking nominations and hold its regular election in June.