YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Youngstown State University chapter of the Ohio Education Association, which represents the nearly 400 full-time faculty at the university, Monday rejected a three-year collective-bargaining agreement with the university.

Sixty percent of the faculty voted to reject the tentative contract last week accepted by the university Board of Trustees, the YSU-OEA said.

Had the contract been ratified, it would have combined bonuses and pay raises for faculty members but abolished extended teaching service and a cap on summer pay.

A university spokesman released a prepared statement:

“We are disappointed that the faculty union membership has rejected the tentative contract agreement. 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. 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.”

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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