YSU-OEA takes step toward Monday strike with member vote

YOUNGSTOWN — The union representing Youngstown State University faculty took a decisive step toward a Monday strike when it opened a strike vote to members Thursday night.

Negotiating teams for YSU-OEA and the YSU administration will meet again today. They last met Wednesday but got no closer to reaching an agreement to end the 10-month-long contract dispute.

The sticking point seems to be the 6-percent pay increase recommended in the report authored by Judge Betty Widgeon, who was hired to mediate the dispute in June.

A 6-percent raise over three years would cost the university $4.2 million, the university said in a statement, adding this year, YSU is facing a $3.7 million drop in its general fund and a 4.4 percent decline in enrollment.

YSU's budget for the 2020-21 school year is $168 million. Assuming the budget does not change dramatically, the budget for the life of the raise would be about $504 million, meaning the raise would impact the budget by less than 1 percent.

In a 31-slide presentation released Thursday, the union took a deeper look into the university's budget, disputing the situation is as dire as the administration claims.

YSU predicted it would experience a 15 percent decline in enrollment and a 20 percent decline in state funding. According to the union, both fall 2020 enrollment and state funding were down less than 5 percent.

In response to this point, YSU spokesperson Ron Cole said the university is not out of the woods yet when it comes to the pandemic.

"[I]t would be irresponsible for the administration to ignore the possibility of another COVID shutdown that could mean further revenue losses, e.g., student refunds, additional cuts to state funding [if Ohio's economic recovery fails to meet expectations], lost revenue from event cancelations [i.e., football and basketball games] and lost food service commissions. Combined, those losses could top $14 million this year alone," he told Mahoning Matters on Thursday.

The union went on to claim faculty has averaged 1.3 percent per year raises over the last three contracts, and as a result, their pay does not keep pace with professors at other Ohio universities, YSU-OEA said. Salaries for the YSU administration, however, has continued to rise, the union claims.

"Tenured faculty make on average $10-$20,000 less than their peers," the YSU-OEA release read. "Adjusted for inflation, these pay disparities are glaring."

Cole noted the disparity does not take into account YSU tuition, which is 17 percent lower than the Ohio public university average.

"It's unreasonable to think that YSU should pay Ohio-average salaries when our revenue per student is so far below the Ohio average," he said.

According to the union, the administration offered a 2 percent raise over three years.

These increases "will not keep pace with inflation, nor will they balance Administration's proposed increases to health care premiums/decreases in health care benefits," the union wrote.

The strike vote is open until 5 p.m. Saturday. If the strike is approved and an agreement is not reached, a strike will begin Monday, the first day of fall break at YSU.

This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 4:30 AM with the headline "YSU-OEA takes step toward Monday strike with member vote."