OU, union reach tentative contract; union easily ratifies pact

Members of the union representing maintenance, food service and janitorial workers at Ohio University are scheduled to vote at 2 p.m. today (Monday) on whether to accept a proposed three-year contract with the university. (Editor's note: The union ratified the contract by an overwhelming 446-48 vote. Our story is forthcoming.)

Local 1699 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Ohio Council 8, has been in contract talks with the university since December.

The old contract was due to lapse today at 5:01 p.m., and the union had sent out a 10-day strike notice, that it was ready to walk off the job if a contract was not reached before the deadline.

However, according to William Sams, regional director for Council 8's Athens office, the two sides reached a tentative agreement sometime after 2 a.m. Monday morning.

"I actually quit looking at my watch, because time seemed irrelevant," Sams joked. He said union leadership is recommending Local 1699's membership approve the contract.

OU President Roderick McDavis put out a brief statement about the tentative settlement, in which he thanked "the members of the negotiating teams, both those who represented Ohio University and those who represented Local 1699, for their work in developing this tentative agreement."

Sams said he could not give details of the proposed new contract, but did say that it runs for three years, includes pay raises, and locks in health insurance premiums for the life of the contract, "so we're very happy."

He added that he's not surprised the negotiations went down to the wire.

"These things are historically very challenging, as you know," he said. "We started negotiating in December, but if we'd started in June, it would have been the same. We would have been in there yesterday."

He added that he's "hopeful" the union membership will approve the contract.

Late last year, AFSCME had approached OU with the proposal to extend the current contract by a year. OU countered with a proposal to extend the agreement by a longer period of about 16 months, which would have had it lapsing while OU was on break, rather than during an academic quarter when the student population was at full strength.

When the union rejected this counter-offer, it meant the two sides would have to enter into full contract negotiations.

During the contract talks, at one point a Columbus-based temporary employment agency was running online ads to find replacement workers for some AFSCME jobs. After The Athens NEWS reported this development, OU announced that it had not authorized the ads, and they were discontinued.