News
Union representing city's street department considers legal action against city
Council ultimately voted unanimously in support of the administration - and rejected the Teamsters agreement.
Wednesday, October 16th 2019, 10:28 PM EDT
Updated:

The union representing Youngstown's Street Department said they might be taking the city to court. That's if a dispute over their latest contract isn't resolved.
"Regardless, this is a document we would end up in litigation over," said Deputy Law Director Dana Lantz during a City Council Meeting on Wednesday, as she did her best to guide city leaders through what could become a sticky situation with the city's street department union.
"We're just asking that council reject this so that we can go back to the table - work this out," said Lantz.
The city's law department claims an agreement between Teamsters Local 377 and the city was never actually reached after it expired in 2019. Yet, the union presented the city with an agreement to be signed, and the city claims that agreement not only has some fundamental disputes but some technical issues that would make it legally unenforceable.
"If you look at what was provided, there is a piece of paper that was signed by different parties, and then there are union notations that were not signed by the city after the date the city engaged in some negotiations," said Lantz. She continued, "They are not language terms."
Aside from the technicalities, the mayor said the sticking point behind all this is workers wanting daily assignments based on seniority.
"Management has a right, and I want to ask council, please never give up that right where we can decide what needs to be done for the operation in the service for the citizens of Youngstown," said Mayor Tito Brown. "That's what this issue is about."
Council ultimately voted unanimously in support of the administration - and rejected the Teamsters agreement.
The union's secretary-treasurer claims the city's law director knew what he signed.
"It was negotiated, he wrote the language," said Ralph Sam Cook with Teamsters Local 377. "We're going to have a conversation with the mayor. We're going to give him a call and sit down with him. If we don't get this resolution, we're going to court."