McConnelsville, Oh- March 1st was the deadline to come to an agreement and negotiations with the district stalled last night.
This is for many non-teacher positions including workers such as bus drivers, mechanics, cooks, aides, and custodians.
“Today is our first day of a strike of the classified workers of Morgan Local Schools. It’s OAPSE ( Ohio Association of Public School Employees) Local 51. We are negotiating a three-year contract and we have come to a stand still on the negotiations,” stated Union Local President Tom Quaintance.
Employees said they love the kids and want to get back to their jobs, but they have been working without a contract since July 1st of last year. Quaintance told us about the major reason behind this strike.
“Primarily, what we are stuck on right now, we do have some other things throughout the contract that we have tentative agreements on, but the primary hold out right now is wages. We are below a lot of the surrounding areas and the schools within the surrounding areas and the superintendent is at the top of the scales for the surrounding area.”
Quaintance said he is hoping to get a phone call later today from the district and is hopeful they can open up negotiations again tonight.
