Ohio University and the AFSCME Local 1699 agreed Friday in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas to meet and discuss public-private partnership concerns and try to resolve labor-union grievances outside of the court before it goes to arbitration.
According to an April 4 article in The Post, the labor union filed a suit April 1 for an injunction against OU that would prohibit it from signing a lease with any developers for the Mill Street Apartments. OU has a proposed lease with Wesam Construction, Inc., of Chester, which would allow the company to hire their own workers, thus privatizing the jobs.
Charlie Adkins, president of the AFSCME Local 1699, said filing the suit was something they should have done a long time ago. He said this was about more than just keeping union jobs.
It's about our community
and I don't want to see decent jobs privatized Adkins said.
John Burns, OU legal counsel, said the resolution allows OU to continue with its lease agreements. He also said that the university agreed to resolve AFSCME's grievance. Burns said that there was also a term added that would allow meetings between OU and the union this month in which the Mill Street Apartments will be discussed, as well as other matters concerning privatization and public-private partnerships.
If the union's grievance cannot be resolved through out-of-court meetings, there will be an arbitration in which an arbitrator listens to both sides and makes a ruling, Burns said.
When the Mill Street Apartments closed, Burns said that three OU employees were reassigned to different university positions. He said that if there is an arbitration and the labor union wins, then OU employees will be placed in the positions at Mill Street Apartments. If not, then Wesam Construction can hire private employees for those jobs.
Burns said the resolution satisfies the university's concerns about moving ahead with the lease agreement and the Mill Street Apartments should be open to students Fall Quarter 2006.
17
Archives
Emily Tudor
