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YOUNGSTOWN – Labor talks between striking Youngstown City Schools teachers and school district administration stretched late into the evening Monday – the holiday, coincidentally, established to recognize and honor the value of our nation’s labor force.
As of late Monday, there was no immediate word of any tentative agreement as the strike enters its 14th day.
School district officials stated the district, through Treasurer Bryan Schiraldi, presented information on the budget deficit, the spending of its reserve funds, other neighboring School District raise benchmarks, the decline in enrollment measured against the teaching staff, and financial data from the State Labor Board.
“On Monday, the parties again met to negotiate the teacher transfer sections of the contract that the Union wants changed,” the school district said in a media release. “The School Board presented its proposal it had been working on since nearly midnight Friday and over the weekend.”
YEA spokesman Jim Courim said he was remaining hopeful, but those comments came hours after the teachers union had released a statement Monday morning accusing the board of education of engaging in “stall tactics.”
The statement said that the situation was not simply that the board was giving YEA unacceptable proposals, but that the board had given YEA no proposals whatsoever.
A school district response fired off late Monday evening stated the school board “remains willing to work under the contract terms that have been in effect for over a decade while negotiating, the Union has rejected this approach. The School Board has offered ways to negotiate while school resumes.”
The statement, sent by school district spokeswoman Stacy Quinones, accused the YEA of making “inaccurate accusations.”
According to the school district’s release, progress has been made in addressing teacher building transfers, but the issue of raises has not yet been agreed upon.
“After negotiating with the Union throughout the day on Friday, the school district team remained by itself in a work session until nearly midnight, working on both transfer and wage issues. The school district continued to work as a team Saturday on building information to present to the Union to bridge the gap on transfer and wage proposals,” the school district stated.
In response to the Monday YEA press release and comments, Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor accused the union of spin tactics.
For the complete story, please read Tuesday’s Vindicator print and online editions.