Youngstown State Faculty Continues in Third Day of Strike

Youngstown State University’s faculty union YSU-OEA on Wednesday entered their third day of striking as classes resume after the 337-member union on Saturday overwhelmingly approved a walkout.þþIn a press release Wednesday, union leaders said the YSU administration failed to offer a reasonable counter proposal following two separate negotiating sessions Tuesday. Monday was the first day of the university’s two-day fall break, giving the sides time to negotiate before classes would be disrupted.þþNegotiations have been “stymied” over several issues, the union said, including legal security for YSU’s most vulnerable faculty members, the continuation of current departmental processes as well as a financial proposal that “sustains vibrant and engaged faculty who come to work at YSU from across the country and the world.”þþ“Towards the end of a largely unproductive Tuesday afternoon session, much of which was spent mitigating errors caused by Administration’s internal miscommunications, YSU-OEA offered Administration a counterproposal and offered to resume negotiations at 9 p.m. to discuss their response to what we presented,” YSU-OEA President Steven Reale said in a statement.þþ“However, we made it very clear that should Administration’s counter proposal be unacceptable, we would need the remainder of the evening and Wednesday morning to meet as a team and work on a new counter proposal,” he said.þþ“Unfortunately, [the] administration chose to come back to the evening session having made incremental moves but overall putting forth a counterproposal that still falls far too short from giving faculty the protection, equity and respect we deserve, which means negotiations and the strike will go on,” Mr. Reale also said in the statement.þþOver the weekend, 279 members voted for the strike, 29 members voted against it, and 18 members abstained. YSU provost Brien Smith on Friday asked the union to withdraw its strike notice and continue to negotiate.þþMr. Smith said the university values its faculty, but that financial difficulties facing the university will “require the sacrifice of all.”þþYSU-OEA spokesperson Mark Vopat said the union’s social media platforms have been flooded by messages of support from students and alumni since the strike began Monday.þþ“Our students deserve a quality education and they know that supporting faculty expertise, intellectual inquiry, and commitment to the community translates to student success,” Mr. Vopat added.þþNegotiations are scheduled between the parties from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday.þþFirst Published October 14, 2020, 9:28am