Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State University’s board of trustees voted Monday night to approve a new contract with faculty members who struck for 20 days.
Earlier Monday, Wright State professors were back in the classroom upon reaching a tentative deal with the administration to end what is thought to be the longest faculty union strike in Ohio’s history.
On late Sunday, the sides reached a tentative agreement between negotiators for the administration and the Wright State chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The school’s board of trustees unanimously voted to approve the deal Monday while the AAUP-WSU will take a poll of members in the coming days.
The nearly five-year deal will extend through June 30, 2023, according to the school. As part of the contract, the AAUP-WSU’s 560 or so members will join a university-wide health care plan.
Health care remained a sticking point in contract talks with union leaders saying they would be sacrificing their right to bargain over health benefits by agreeing to the terms originally imposed by the board of trustees Jan. 4. The tentative agreement makes it clear that health care will be included in future contract negotiations, said AAUP-WSU president Martin Kich.
“There’s very strong language in the contract now,” Kich said. “No fact-finder is going to be able to look at it and say: ‘they gave up their right to bargain over health care.’”
