Wright State Campus during fall | Photo by Soham Parikh | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University’s (WSU) Teamsters 957 is once again in collective bargaining negotiations with the university and will be meeting again on Oct. 19 to accept or reject the fact finder’s report.
Who are the Teamsters
The Teamsters 957 union of WSU is a group of over 30 positions on the WSU campus. These positions include workers in groundskeeping, electricians, engineers and HVAC staff members.
In Dec. of 2019, Chief Steward for the WSU Teamsters union Tom Bellew said to the Guardian, “We’re going through the same things as the teachers [faculty union].”
Bellew and his fellow Teamsters union members felt disrespected by the university and expenditures made throughout the course of the year.
Bellew is still the current Teamsters Chief Steward, but was unable to comment at the current moment due to current negotiations.
What are the possible outcomes?
Upon meeting with university officials on Oct. 19, the Teamsters union will have the option to accept or reject the state fact-finder’s report.
This report does a deep dive into the contract negotiations between the Teamsters and WSU, and provides a mediated suggestion towards contract negotiations.
If the Teamsters vote against the fact-finders report, a vote to strike may occur.
Once a vote to strike passes, a 10-day strike notice would be submitted to the State Employment Relations Board (SERB), however negotiations may still continue even after the notice is submitted.
This strike notice may be called off at any given point in negotiations.
If the 10-day strike notice follows through, a walkout would occur later in the year and WSU would be forced to contract services through outside contractors that the Teamsters provide.
Remaining hopeful
During the 2019 negotiations between the Teamsters 957 and WSU, Bellew said to the Guardian that he, “loved his job with the university, however leadership choices have become frustrating over the years.”
“The university is hopeful that the university’s Teamsters bargaining unit will accept the fact-finders report. The university is confident that there are administrative and other costs in the Teamsters health care plan that would not result in savings to the university in contrast to the savings the university already benefits from in a unified health care plan for all university employees,” said WSU Director of Communications Seth Bauguess during 2019 negotiations.
Bauguess was unable to comment on current negotiations.
