Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
A state board could decide today if a strike by Wright State University faculty is unauthorized as complaints and political pressure begin to mount for the school’s administration and faculty union.
The State Employment Relations Board has scheduled an emergency hearing for noon today in Columbus to decide whether a faculty union strike started Tuesday at Wright State is legitimate.
The university’s administration and the Wright State chapter of the American Association of University Professors will each have one hour to present their case to the state board, according to the meeting notice. SERB will then make a ruling, said Seth Bauguess, spokesman for Wright State.
The hearing comes after the administration on Thursday filed its second unfair labor practice complaint with the state, asking it to declare the strike unauthorized.
“Our attorney is very positive about our chances,” said Martin Kich, AAUP-WSU president. “There’s no telling what SERB is going to do…But, I don’t think there’s anything in there that’s going to invalidate the strike.”
The administration declined to comment directly on the Sunday meeting, but Bauguess said “the filing speaks for itself.”
Ohio Revised Code requires SERB to make a decision within 72 hours of when a complaint claiming a strike is unauthorized is filed. A SERB ruling in favor of the university would require the union to cease all strike activity immediately, according to WSU.
