Wages and a union-desired health insurance plan also remain open issues, Doll said.
The local represents about 115 Wright State driver, maintenance, groundskeeper, custodial and other workers. Some 10 university Lake Campus workers are also counted in the membership.
“Generally, people were not pleased” with the fact-finder’s report, Doll said. “They were not happy with it.”
“The fact-finder sees the option of furlough days as a means of employees spreading the burden around versus layoffs,” wrote the fact-finder, Carol Bader. “They are useful for lesser financial crises, rather than placing the full burden on a few laid-off employees.”
However, Bader disagreed with the university on two points, saying the number of furlough days should be capped at five, not ten, and if work requires overtime, then members should be permitted to work — mirroring similar provisions in a contract with police employees.
Votes should be counted today, and a result may be known later this afternoon, Doll said.
Tentative agreement has already been reached on a number of other issues. “But on these five issues, we have no tentative agreement at all,” Doll said.
A copy of a Teamsters-university contract on a university web site gives the contract duration as Sept. 1, 2015 to Aug. 31, 2018.
If the report is not accepted by either side, then law requires them to return to negotiations, Doll said. “If you can reach agreement, then you go from there.”
A message was left the Columbus attorney representing the state of Ohio in the matter of the report, Christopher Hogan. A message was also left with a university spokesman.
Years of scandal, financial issues and legal problems have plagued Wright State. In June 2017, university trustees slashed more than $30 million from the fiscal year 2018 budget and another $10-million decline in revenue was expected after that.
But progress has been made. The university has doubled cash reserves over the last two years, from around $31 million in 2017 to more than $60 million as of this fall.
Provost Susan Edwards will officially become Wright State’s new president Jan. 1, replacing outgoing President Cheryl Schrader.
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