Union chief at YSU says pact may be the best yet

The estimated additional cost of the three-year pact is approximately $1 million.

By Harold Gwin

YOUNGSTOWN — The president of a union at Youngstown State University says the union now has what may be the best contract it’s negotiated.

The YSU board of trustees and the Association of Professional/Administrative Staff union both ratified the three-year pact this week.

The agreement provides annual base-salary increases of 3 percent in the first year, 4 percent in the second and 3.5 percent in the third for everyone and includes other salary improvements that raise those increases to at least 5.5 percent in the second year and 5 percent in the third.

For the first time, the 143 APAS employees will be eligible for longevity and certain other salary enhancements that will raise their pay even more.

APAS employees are paid straight salaries. They don’t get overtime.

“This is probably the best contract that APAS has ever seen,” said Todd Pilipovich, union president.

The estimated additional cost of the three-year pact is approximately $1 million, according to information provided to the board of trustees.

The union represents academic and athletic advisers, assistant program directors, program coordinators, research assistants and others.

There are no employee givebacks in the pact, which is retroactive to July 1 and will expire June 30, 2012, said Sally Kenney, chief negotiator for APAS.

“We have rewritten the entire contract,” she said, explaining that it is really a catch-up contract for the union, bringing it more on a par with other university labor groups.

Longevity kicks in during the first year of the agreement, providing a one-time, lump-sum bonus of $50 per year of service to every employee on staff since on or before July 1, 2005, but with less than 20 full-time years of continuous service.

For those employed as of July 1, 2009, with at last 20 years of full-time continuous service, a longevity payment of $50 per year of service will be added to their base pay.

There are only about eight people eligible for that latter benefit at this time, Kenney said.

Equity Placement, designed to help advance APAS employees along the salary pay scale — something Kenney said hasn’t been happening for all APAS job classifications — is a new item that will begin in the second year of the contract.

It guarantees that all current employees will be paid at a rate of at least the minimum salary for their job classification plus 1.5 percent for each year of continuous service, which will become part of their base salary. Those whose salaries are above that benchmark won’t see an equity-placement adjustment.

An “Annual Increase” also begins in the second year. It’s akin to a salary-step increase — something APAS doesn’t have — found in teacher contracts and provides a 1.5 percent adjustment to the base salary.

“Performance Appreciation Increase” is another new item in year two, and it’s tied to the work that APAS employees do related to student recruitment, Kenney said.

It provides lump-sum adjustments to the base salary of each employee in the amount of $500 for full-time people, $375 for those who are considered between three-quarters and full-time employees and $250 for all others.

Both the annual increase of 1.5 percent and the performance-appreciation increases are repeated in the third year of the agreement.

The contract also, for the first time, includes a “Career Ladder” program that begins in the second year and will provide a 5 percent base-salary increase for employees who successfully advance to the next step of the career ladder.

The details of how it will work are to be developed by a joint union/management committee.

Employees will continue to contribute 1.5 percent of their base salary for family health insurance and 0.75 percent for individual coverage.

gwin@vindy.com

There is a wide variety of salary ranges in the new three-year contract between YSU and its Association of Professional/Administrative Staff union. A look at the minimum and maximum salary levels for the lowest- and highest-paying jobs held by employees shows:

LOWEST: Housing coordinator

2009-10: $22,791 to $37,456 2010-11: $22,791 to $38,954 2011-12: $23,588 to $40,317

HIGHEST: Database administrator

2009-10: $59,277 to $96,947 2010-11: $59,277 to $100,825 2011-12: $61,351 to $104,354

Source: Youngstown State University