AFSCME Local 1148 threatens lawsuit

By Harold Gwin

The board president said the district is looking to cut costs without cutting jobs.

YOUNGSTOWN — Local 1143 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union has threatened to take action against the school district if the city school board awards a transportation management contract to a private company.

A grievance will be filed, and the issue will be pushed to arbitration, Jack Filak, regional director of AFSCME Ohio Council 8, told the school board Tuesday.

“We think it is a violation of our contract,” he said.

The union is opposed to the management proposal submitted by Community Bus Services Inc., said Chuck Pulice, president of Local 1143, which represents about 450 district employees, including custodians, secretaries, educational assistants, cafeteria workers and transportation employees.

About 30 AFSCME members, most wearing green shirts with the union’s name on the front, attended the meeting.

The school board’s business committee is looking at the CBS proposal, which the company says will save the district $500,000 a year on its $6 million transportation bill.

“This is a bad idea,” Filak said, adding that CBS “will have to cut services to do it.” The company has yet to say what it wants to be paid for the job, he said.

Approval of the contract will make the union members adversaries of the board, Filak warned.

“We’re not looking for a battle with you,” he said, but added that the union won’t back away from a fight if one is coming.

The union members have worked with the administration in recent years to cut costs, including taking a four-year wage freeze and picking up a portion of health care costs. They helped implement about $1.2 million in spending cuts just in the last couple of years, he pointed out.

Don’t outsource any part of the transportation program, said Bill Padisak, president of the Mahoning/Trumbull AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.

The district’s management and employees can do the job, he told the board.

Don’t consider the school board to be adversaries for looking at ways to cut spending in an effort to save your jobs, responded Anthony Catale, board president.

The full board has yet to see or review the CBS proposal, he said, adding that transportation is just one area where the board is looking to reduce spending.

No one wants to cut more jobs, he said, adding that there is no proposal to outsource jobs either.

“We have to crunch the numbers,” said Michael Murphy, chairman of the board’s business committee, following the meeting. He pointed out that both he and committee member Lock P. Beachum Sr. have said they won’t touch the union contract.

The district has cut 450 jobs over the last two years and is looking at eliminating some additional positions next year.

gwin@vindy.com