Columbus Dispatch: OEA Avoids Strike by Its Own Workers

Teachers union avoids strike from own workers

The Columbus Dispatch

Friday, September 1, 2006

A labor organization that represents Ohio's teachers averted a strike from its own staff workers' union last night.

The Ohio Professional Staff Union, which represents office workers for the Ohio Education Association, reached a tentative agreement with the OEA, the state's largest teachers' union, officials said.

"As a result of that, there will be no strike tomorrow," Norm Young, president of the Professional Staff Union, said last night.

Young refused to release details of the three-year agreement, which still must be ratified by the union's 106 members in a vote on Sept. 11.

An outline of the accord's provisions received overwhelming support from more than 90 members at a union meeting last night, Young said.

Earlier in the day, union members had picketed and were planning to strike at 12:01 a.m. today, when their six-year contract expired. But a federal mediator who had been called in was "very helpful" in resolving differences, Young said.

"It is very encouraging that we had a lot of constructive discussion and a lot of hard work by both parties," Ohio Education Association spokesman Michael Mahoney said.