YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - As the Youngstown Education Association (YEA) strike continues on, the union is now accusing the Youngstown City School Board of using stall tactics in the negotiation process.

YEA spokesperson Jim Courim released a statement to 21 News stating that the union is "appalled" by the Board's decision to "halt all progress in what appears to be an attempt to prolong the strike indefinitely."

Courim went on to say this situation isn't simply a case of the board giving the union unacceptable proposals, but is rather a case of no proposals being given at all.

"The parties scheduled six hours of negotiations on Sunday, and instead of the proposal the Board was to have prepared, the Board presented the union with a
PowerPoint presentation on district finances. It is a blatant and appalling attempt to stall negotiations, despite the fact that Youngstown students are about to miss their ninth day of school on Tuesday," Courim said.

Courim went on to accuse the board of "manufactur[ing] a case to put in from of SERB to see if they could declare [the union's] strike illegal."

"They tried to tell the public that they could not legally negotiate crucial language in our contract, though they know full well that they can. Now instead
of negotiating with us this weekend, they want to waste the community’s time with a random presentation on school finance that they know will do nothing to move the ball,” Courim said.

This is now the third week of the YEA's strike beginning. Students were supposed to start school on Wednesday, August 23, but this has since been delayed due to the strike.