Union to Vote on YSU Contract

By Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio

Jul. 26–YOUNGSTOWN — Members of the nonfaculty Association of Classified Employees union at Youngstown State University will vote Monday on the terms of a new three-year contract.

The union, representing about 400 administrative assistants, secretaries, computer center employees, maintenance workers and others, will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center.

Terms of the agreement, which will replace the current three-year contract expiring in August, won’t be revealed until the YSU Board of Trustees approves the deal.

The trustees have set a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday for that vote.

Negotiations began in October, and talks have ended on a much better note than bargaining three years ago that resulted in a strike by the union.

A last-minute settlement that summer allowed fall 2005 classes to start on schedule.

The university’s 380-member faculty union, which also went on strike in the summer of 2005 before reaching a settlement on a three-year pact, reached agreement on a new three-year contract in March. It also takes effect in August, and, among other things, provides a 2.5 percent base salary increase in the first year and 3.5 percent increases in both the second and third years.

The university has estimated the faculty contract will cost an additional $4.5 million over three years.

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