Wright State strike: Faculty union to host Statehouse meeting Friday

Wright State University’s faculty union will host a meeting at the Ohio Statehouse on Friday in an attempt to draw more attention to their ongoing strike.

Members of the Wright State chapter of the American Association of University Professors will host a press conference at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the ladies’ gallery of the Statehouse, according to a release sent out this morning by the group.

» RELATED: What will it take to end WSU strike? A court order could do it

The AAUP-WSU is asking Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Higher Education Chancellor Randy Gardner, to help broker an agreement between the school’s administration and faculty union.

Both DeWine’s and Gardner’s offices have said they are monitoring the strike. Gardner was on campus earlier this week to talk to students about the strike.

AAUP-WSU members have been on strike for 17 days now in what may already be the longest faculty strike in Ohio’s history. Faculty have been picketing outside the entrances to campus along Colonel Glenn Highway since Jan. 22.

» RELATED: Wright State board votes on new contract offer, faculty union calls it a ‘stunt’

Both sides have said that health care remains the central issue still on the negotiating table. The administration has asked that union members join a university-wide health care plan.

The terms of employment imposed by the Wright State board of trustees on Jan. 4 state that health care can be changed at the university’s discretion. The administration must give 60-days notice to the faculty union before health benefits are altered, according to the terms.

But, AAUP-WSU leaders have long said that agreeing to the administration’s terms for health care would eliminate their right to bargaining for health benefits.

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