The Youngstown Education Association and Youngstown City Schools will hold contract negotiations Monday, August 14th at 8am at New Bethel Baptist Church.

The Youngstown Education Association, which represents the teachers in Youngstown City Schools, had originally planned to hold negotiations on August 12th and 13th, as well as on the 14th, but had to cancel the weekend negotiations.

On Thursday, the YEA announced it had filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against the Youngstown Board of Education with the State Employment Relations Board, claiming the Board violated Ohio state labor laws when it openly discussed specific terms of negotiations in a Wednesday press release.

In a statement from Thursday, YEA spokesperson Jim Courim said "The Board has repeatedly stated in public that they are willing to negotiate any time and at any place. We’ve made the necessary arrangements, and we now look forward to sitting down with them to collaboratively put our students first."

"YEA remains fully committed to the negotiations process despite the fact that the union was forced to file an Unfair Labor Practice charge today," the release continues. "Not only is it against Ohio state labor law for an employer or a union to discuss specific terms of negotiations in the public realm, but the Board was not and has not been accurate in portraying the hangups at the table."

The YEA further maintains that the teacher's salaries are not the sticking point in the negotiations, but rather the working conditions in the school district. 

In response to the YEA, Youngstown City School District Communications and Public Relations Director Stacy Quinones issued the following statement:

"The district will not comment on the specifics of pending litigation. However, we will say we will vigorously defend this filing and believe we have the ability to follow up with the district's own public comments after the numerous public interviews and press releases made by the YEA first. The district will lay out its position in the defense papers it files with the state labor board. The district did not make any public comments during the bargaining process and only exercised its right after the union declared an impasse and bargaining ended. As a public employer, we believe in transparency."