No progress at Aug. 6 bargaining session; state-appointed mediator will join negotiations next week

The Faculty and Administration bargaining teams met for about 90 minutes on Friday, Aug. 6, and concluded that the Mediator appointed by the State Employment Relations Board (SERB) should attend the next bargaining session.

The date for the next bargaining session has been set for Monday, Aug. 16. (See Aug. 12 update for additional information.)

The state-appointed mediator, John Gray, has been a Commissioner of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) since 2011. Mr. Gray has served in the past as mediator during negotiations for several of the unions at Cincinnati State, including AAUP.

Prior to becoming a full-time mediator, Mr. Gray worked as a business agent and executive officer for the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE). He is also a Cincinnati State graduate.

The role of a mediator is to assist the sides in reaching agreement on issues and achieving a contract settlement at the bargaining table. A mediator does not make decisions about issues that are not yet resolved.

Faculty Chief Negotiator Greg Klein said the session on Aug. 6 started with the Faculty team presenting a comprehensive counter-proposal that addressed several topics, including various components of faculty workload, office hours, compensation, professional enrichment, COVID safety provisions, and other areas of the contracts for faculty Units 1 and 2.

“It’s disappointing that the administration did not respond to any of our new proposals today, but we look forward to continuing negotiations next week,” Greg said.

“We welcome the mediator’s assistance in helping us move forward,” Greg added.

“We’ve had a faculty collective bargaining agreement for more than 30 years, and parts of it work well and need only minor adjustments, if any,” Greg said. “But faculty at Cincinnati State have been stretched to the limits in the recent past, and there are areas where we’ve fallen significantly behind our counterparts at other Ohio community colleges.”

“The Faculty proposals are seeking fair and appropriate solutions for several contractual issues that still need attention,” Greg said.