YSU trustees ratify labor pact, but faculty approval uncertain

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University trustees unanimously ratified a tentative agreement with the faculty union, but union approval is uncertain.

“Faculty see this as a second concessionary contract and on account of that, ratification will be extremely difficult,” said Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez, chief negotiator for the YSU-Ohio Education Association, the union representing the university’s nearly 400 faculty members.

He expects a union vote in “the near future.”

University trustees approved the tentative agreement at a special meeting Tuesday.

“This tentative agreement is the outcome of months of deliberate and thoughtful discussion that has resulted in a negotiated, accepted and recommended tentative agreement by both the faculty and administration bargaining teams,” Carole Weimer, board chairwoman said. Faculty members have been working without a contract since mid-August. If approved by the faculty union, the new pact would run through mid-August 2017.

A few days before the previous contract expired, the two sides announced that a tentative agreement had been reached. That agreement, however, didn’t address health insurance, which was to be determined by the Health Care Advisory Committee, a group that includes representatives of all university unions and the administration.

University officials have said that the HCAC made a recommendation, but the faculty union rejected it.

Last month, the two sides reached agreement on the health insurance provision.

Read more about the pact in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.