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Faculty rejects new contract with YSU
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Viewing it as a second concessionary contract, members of the Youngstown State University-Ohio Education Association “overwhelmingly” rejected a proposed three-year agreement with the university.
Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez, the union’s chief negotiator, said 60 percent of the union attended Monday’s vote.
Options include both sides going back to the bargaining table either with or without a federal mediator, the university imposing a contract — or a faculty strike, he said.
“I think the most appropriate thing to do at this time is to return to the bargaining table with a federal mediator,” Palmer-Fernandez said.
The YSU administration expressed disappointment in the faculty vote in a written statement.
“The agreement was negotiated over several months in challenging financial times and represents compromise and common ground deemed acceptable by the bargaining teams of both the union and administration,” it says.
“With the union’s rejection, the two sides will now return to the bargaining table. If a settlement is not achieved, under Ohio law, negotiations will enter the fact-finding process and a hearing will be scheduled with an impartial fact finder. The fact finder will issue a nonbinding report, at which time both parties will accept or reject the recommended settlement proposal. We remain confident that both the administration and the faculty will continue to work constructively, on behalf of our students and our community, for a settlement,” the statement says.
Although the tentative agreement, which was approved unanimously by trustees last week, included a combination of bonuses and pay increases for faculty, Palmer-Fernandez said it amounted to a reduction in faculty members’ overall take-home compensation of about 4 percent.
The reduction in the cap for summer pay for faculty contributed to that reduction. The agreement also called for elimination of extended teaching service.
The average faculty salary is $72,657. With benefits, that average increases to $95,907, university officials have said.
Faculty members donned red and white buttons that read “Academics Above Athletics” and “You can’t put students first if you put faculty last.”
Palmer-Fernandez said many budgets across campus have seen cuts, including a 9.6 percent reduction to academic affairs, while the university’s intercollegiate athletics budget saw a 3.6 percent increase.
“You and I put money into things we value,” he said. “The board of trustees apparently values athletics over academic excellence.”
Annette Burden, union president, said the faculty feels demoralized.
She said the union approved a concessionary contract three years ago with the idea that it would give the university time to get its financial affairs in order.
“They did not do that,” Burden said.
The university’s financial situation isn’t going to improve, either through another concessionary faculty contract, merging colleges or anything else, unless the administration changes its spending habits, she said.
The rejected agreement called for a $1,000 bonus for full professors, $750 for associate professors, $650 for assistant professors and $500 for instructors the first year.
In the second year, there also was a bonus based on academic rank and a 0.5 percent increase to base pay for all members. The bonuses were $1,200 for full professors, $950 for associate professors, $850 for assistant professors and $700 for instructors.
In the third year, there was to be a 2 percent pay increase but no bonus.
The agreement also included a reduction in the cap for summer pay. 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 agreement called for lowering that cap to $65,000.
Also eliminated was extending teaching service. This year only, those eligible for retirement would have received a $40,000 buyout paid over five years in place of ETS.
Under the expired contract, ETS is available to eligible retired faculty members for up to five years. They receive an assignment of 42 teaching hours distributed over the chosen number of years, up to 11 hours per semester and 13 hours per academic year.
ETS faculty members are paid an amount equal to the number of teaching hours taught multiplied by a percentage of their nine-month salary at the time of their retirement, or a percentage of $100,000, whichever is less. The percentage for this past school year is 3 percent.