APAS contract approved by YSU trustees

By Denise Dick

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University trustees approved a new three-year contract with the union representing professional and administrative staff that includes a base-pay wage freeze.

The 166-member Association for Professional and Administrative Staff approved the pact last week, according to a news release from the university.

“This completes three out of four rounds of negotiations in a little over a year,” Carole Weimer, trustees chairwoman, said at a special trustees meeting Tuesday.

Trustees previously approved contracts with the YSU-Ohio Education Association and the Association of Classified Employees, its two largest unions. The fourth contract is for the union representing university police. That agreement expired June 30.

APAS membership includes varied personnel — both full- and part-time — across university departments including radio announcers, athletic trainers, academic advisers, financial-aid counselors, assistant directors and housing coordinators.

Trustee Ted Roberts, who is chairman of both trustees’ University Affairs Committee and Collective Bargaining and Negotiations Subcommittee, thanked negotiating teams for both the union and the administration for their work in reaching the deal.

The annual salaries for current employees range from $12,921 for a part-time radio announcer and $87,375 for a full-tme database administrator. The new contract runs through June 30, 2018. It is retroactive to July 1.

“The constant theme of our team was job security for our members and finding creative ways to meet the needs of the university while not sacrificing our own needs and concerns,” Ed Villone, APAS’ chief negotiator and president-elect, said in the news release. “We believe these objectives were satisfied and done without having to yell, scream or even raise our voices during this very professional process.”

The new pact includes an average $1,000 one-time lump-sum payment in its third year, depending on health insurance changes.

As in the ACE contract, imposed by trustees earlier this year, the APAS contract includes reductions in sick-leave payout at retirement, reduced annual vacation accrual for top-level employees, a reduction in the amount of time required for the university to lay off employees and changes to employees’ health insurance. It also gives YSU the ability to subcontract work.