43
YSU trustees approve APAS pact
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Youngstown State University trustees voted 5-4 Friday in favor of a contract with the Association of Professional/Administrative Staff outlining employee concessions.
The deal includes provisions similar to what was approved for the faculty and Association of Classified Employees unions last year.
The contract, which runs through June 30, 2015, calls for no pay increase the first year, 2 percent the second year and a “me-too” clause with the faculty the third year of the agreement, meaning whatever percentage increase negotiated for the faculty union contract also will be granted to APAS members.
The university says the 2 percent pay increase is expected to cost about $203,000.
Union members’ health- insurance contributions also will increase, after the same phase-in as the faculty and ACE contracts approved last year: 12 percent of the premium the first year and 15 percent in the second and third years.
YSU estimates its savings from the health-insurance change at about $246,700.
Under the just-expired contract, APAS members paid 1.5 percent of their base pay for a family plan and 0.75 percent of their base pay for single coverage.
Trustees James Greene, David Deibel, Carole Weimer, Sudershan Garg and John Jakubek voted in favor, with trustees Delores Crawford, Leonard Schiavone, Harry Meshel and Scott Schulick opposed.
“I share concerns, considering our ongoing financial constraints. I would have preferred to see the same two-year wage freeze that we saw in some of the other contracts,” Schulick said.
Garg, board chairman, said a concessionary contract was needed because of the “unprecedented and uncertain economic times.”
The 162-member union of counselors, researchers, advisers and others approved the agreement by a 76-9 vote earlier this week, said Helen Matusick, labor relations consultant for the Ohio Education Association.
She said APAS members knew what to expect going into negotiations given the university’s financial condition.
“With the other two unions negotiating last year, APAS knew the changes that were coming in health care,” Matusick said. “We did what we could to maintain what we had. The university was up front from the beginning, saying it was going to be concessionary, and we just had to work to minimize the cuts.”
The union includes 147 full-time and 15 part-time employees. Full-time annual salaries range from $27,127 to $85,662.
Also following the faculty and ACE contracts, spouses of APAS members eligible for health-insurance coverage through his or her employer must enroll through their employer for at least single coverage.
The employee co-pay for doctor’s visits increases from $10 to $15.
APAS was the last union agreement approved in the current three-year contract cycle. ACE and the faculty union were approved last year, and the police union contract was approved earlier this year.