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YSU hopes to have a deal done next week
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University’s faculty union has reached an agreement on health care, the issue that’s been the stumbling block to a contract, said the union’s chief negotiator.
The university, however, didn’t confirm that an agreement has been reached.
“The university is pleased with the progress the teams made this week, and we anticipate that we will have a full tentative agreement by early next week,” President Jim Tressel said through a university spokeswoman Friday. “I thank the negotiating teams for their hard work.”
Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez, chief negotiator for the YSU-Ohio Education Association, said the agreement provides for a 15 percent employee health-care contribution using a sliding-fee scale, rather than a flat rate.
“Those who make more will pay more and those who make less will pay less,” he said.
Another change in the contract is how the university’s health-care reserve is calculated. Rather than being based on a percentage of projected costs, it will be based on actual costs from the previous three years, Palmer-Fernandez said.
With negotiating teams for the union and administration nearing agreement to the provisions, there will be no need for a fact-finding session that had been set for Nov. 10.
The university’s trustees and the full union must approve all contract terms.
Palmer-Fernandez said all contract language will be compiled and distributed to faculty. The faculty plans to vote if the trustees approve the proposal.
The roughly 400 faculty members have been working without a contract since Aug. 17.
On Aug. 15, the negotiating teams for both sides issued a joint statement saying a tentative agreement had been reached. That agreement, however, didn’t address health care.
Last week, a university spokesman said the health-care issue was to be determined by the university’s Health Care Advisory Committee. This committee includes representatives of the administration and all university unions. The committee agreed to a health-care recommendation, which the faculty union rejected, the spokesman has said.
Coming to terms on health care doesn’t resolve a grievance the union filed last month about the way the university uses health-care savings. That issue will continue through the grievance procedure, Palmer-Fernandez said.
According to information previously obtained by The Vindicator, the proposed contract calls for a combination of pay increases and bonuses but also a reduction in summer pay and elimination of extended teaching service.
The average faculty salary is $72,657. With benefits, that average increases to $95,907, the university reports.
The amount of the bonus would be $1,000 for full professors, $750 for associate professors, $650 for assistant professors and $500 for instructors, according to information obtained by the newspaper.
In the second year, there’s also a bonus based on academic rank and a 0.5 percent increase to base pay for all members. The bonuses are $1,200 for full professors, $950 for associate professors, $850 for assistant professors and $700 for instructors.
There would be a 2 percent pay increase in the third year but no bonus.
The cap for summer pay also would be reduced.
Faculty members who teach during the summer are paid 3.25 percent of their salary per credit hour. Under the current pact, the amount upon which that calculation is based is capped at $80,000. The two sides have agreed to lowering that cap to $65,000, according to the information.
Extended teaching service would be abolished under what’s being considered. This year, those eligible for retirement would receive a $40,000 buyout paid over five years in place of ETS. That option, however, would be available only this year.