Bravo to Youngstown State University’s faculty union, YSU-OEA, and also to the YSU administration for putting their full weight into bargaining into the wee hours of the morning Thursday, and not leaving until they were successful at ironing out their differences.

That’s when the sides reached a full tentative agreement in the very early hours after lengthy bargaining. Faculty members agreed to end the three-day strike and head back to the classroom Thursday.

The new collective bargaining pact will cover years 2020-2023, and includes many shared governance rights such as the faculty’s right to participate in academic program development, determine class sizes and elect department chairs; protections for YSU’s most vulnerable faculty members; and allowing faculty retention of intellectual property rights.

Compensation will include 2 percent raises in years two and three, but no increase this year.

We are proud of both sides for realizing that further disruption caused by digging in without compromise would hurt students the most.

Instead, the sides dug in at the bargaining table until their differences were hammered out.

Now, we urge the full YSU-OEA membership to vote in favor of the pact, and then the YSU board of trustees to follow suit.

Then, after that, the union and the administration must begin anew by continuing these lessons of compromise in order to grow mutual respect and trust, and to improve their working relationship.