LoKyBuckeye
I give up. This board is too hard to understand.
Not Buckeye related but this is an interesting situation in PA.
Labor dispute threatens D-II football season
http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/3758806
GENARO C. ARMAS / Associated Press
Posted: 2 hours ago
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (AP) - College football season is six weeks away and workouts start early next month, but a contract dispute at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities threatens to sideline all fall sports - potentially paralyzing the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
Labor disputes are all-too-common in professional sports, but union negotiators, school system administrators and PSAC and NCAA officials say they know of no other such situation in the country involving colleges. The coaches' bargaining unit is thought to be the only such union representing college coaches.
"It's very new territory for everybody," said PSAC commissioner Steve Murray, who is based in Lock Haven. "There's nobody we can go to ask for ideas on how to best handle this situation."
Last month, nearly 94 percent of the union's roughly 360 non-faculty coaches voted to authorize a strike. That gives the union's executive council the ability to call a strike if recommended by the coaches' negotiating team.
The coaches have been working without a deal since June 2004. No deadline has been set, though some coaches see mid-to-late August as a possible target date for a strike. Murray said he is optimistic a deal between the union and state officials soon can be worked out. The PSAC and NCAA say they are monitoring talks, but have steered clear of the negotiations.
Penn State and Pitt garner far more attention during college football season in Pennsylvania, but PSAC football still attracts a loyal following. The schools are scattered mostly in small towns across the state.
Pennsylvania's four state-related universities - Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln - are not in the PSAC system and are not affected by the contract dispute.
"Just like any sport, when you have a strike, the only people that would suffer are the fans and players," said Tim Payne, owner of a sporting goods store in Mansfield, home of the conference's Mansfield Mountaineers. "Nothing good ever comes out of it."
The league has produced several NFL players, including New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett and former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Andre Reed.
PSAC teams have excelled in other sports as well. Last year, Bloomsburg won its third straight NCAA Division II field hockey championship, and California University of Pennsylvania won the women's basketball crown.
Several coaches say they don't think administrators realize the amount of time coaches spend on the job, especially while teams aren't playing.
For instance, practice times and travel schedules must be coordinated, not to mention the actual coaching during games. Then there are duties such as monitoring academic progress and acting as a parental figure that go beyond a 9-to-5 day, said Lock Haven softball coach Kelley Green.
"I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck anymore. I don't think that's fair," Green said. "It's just a little bit, and I feel that coaches deserve a lot more for what we put into the university."
Meanwhile, coaches are running summer camps, recruiting and performing other duties with the expectation there will be a season. Officials from both sides say there has been progress in recent weeks.
"I'm more optimistic now ... but we still have to plan to take a job action," said Shippensburg football coach Rocky Rees, a top union negotiator. "Hopefully, it will be a waste of time."
System spokesman Tom Gluck said the union's strike vote was expected. The coaches' union also represents teachers at the universities, who have threatened to strike in the past.
Health care costs are one of the biggest stumbling blocks in negotiations. Administrators originally proposed a 10 percent medical copay similar to the one in the faculty contract, but union officials have said the copay could eat up the entire raise for some coaches making less than $40,000 a year.
The system now is asking the coaches to pay one-half of 1 percent of their gross salary to cover health costs, with the share increasing to 1 percent in 2007.
"We have had tough negotiations because of a very tight budget situation facing state universities," Gluck said. The system faces a $20 million increase in paying for health care costs next year, though it is expected to only get a $10 million budget increase from the state, he added.
Pay raises and performance evaluations are other key issues. Coaches have issued a counterproposal, Rees said.
Caught in the middle are student-athletes such as Jahri Evans, a 6-foot-4, 340-pound left tackle at Bloomsburg with dreams of a pro career.
Evans says he will back his head coach, union member Danny Hale, even if it means losing his last year of eligibility.
"It will be totally difficult for me. I will be highly disappointed," Evans said after bench pressing 225 pounds without breaking a sweat inside a desolate Bloomsburg weight room.
But Evans said he is trying to stay positive.
"I think it will be settled," he said. "I think there's a whole bunch of politics and stuff like that."
Labor dispute threatens D-II football season
http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/3758806
GENARO C. ARMAS / Associated Press
Posted: 2 hours ago
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (AP) - College football season is six weeks away and workouts start early next month, but a contract dispute at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities threatens to sideline all fall sports - potentially paralyzing the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
Labor disputes are all-too-common in professional sports, but union negotiators, school system administrators and PSAC and NCAA officials say they know of no other such situation in the country involving colleges. The coaches' bargaining unit is thought to be the only such union representing college coaches.
"It's very new territory for everybody," said PSAC commissioner Steve Murray, who is based in Lock Haven. "There's nobody we can go to ask for ideas on how to best handle this situation."
Last month, nearly 94 percent of the union's roughly 360 non-faculty coaches voted to authorize a strike. That gives the union's executive council the ability to call a strike if recommended by the coaches' negotiating team.
The coaches have been working without a deal since June 2004. No deadline has been set, though some coaches see mid-to-late August as a possible target date for a strike. Murray said he is optimistic a deal between the union and state officials soon can be worked out. The PSAC and NCAA say they are monitoring talks, but have steered clear of the negotiations.
Penn State and Pitt garner far more attention during college football season in Pennsylvania, but PSAC football still attracts a loyal following. The schools are scattered mostly in small towns across the state.
Pennsylvania's four state-related universities - Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln - are not in the PSAC system and are not affected by the contract dispute.
"Just like any sport, when you have a strike, the only people that would suffer are the fans and players," said Tim Payne, owner of a sporting goods store in Mansfield, home of the conference's Mansfield Mountaineers. "Nothing good ever comes out of it."
The league has produced several NFL players, including New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett and former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Andre Reed.
PSAC teams have excelled in other sports as well. Last year, Bloomsburg won its third straight NCAA Division II field hockey championship, and California University of Pennsylvania won the women's basketball crown.
Several coaches say they don't think administrators realize the amount of time coaches spend on the job, especially while teams aren't playing.
For instance, practice times and travel schedules must be coordinated, not to mention the actual coaching during games. Then there are duties such as monitoring academic progress and acting as a parental figure that go beyond a 9-to-5 day, said Lock Haven softball coach Kelley Green.
"I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck anymore. I don't think that's fair," Green said. "It's just a little bit, and I feel that coaches deserve a lot more for what we put into the university."
Meanwhile, coaches are running summer camps, recruiting and performing other duties with the expectation there will be a season. Officials from both sides say there has been progress in recent weeks.
"I'm more optimistic now ... but we still have to plan to take a job action," said Shippensburg football coach Rocky Rees, a top union negotiator. "Hopefully, it will be a waste of time."
System spokesman Tom Gluck said the union's strike vote was expected. The coaches' union also represents teachers at the universities, who have threatened to strike in the past.
Health care costs are one of the biggest stumbling blocks in negotiations. Administrators originally proposed a 10 percent medical copay similar to the one in the faculty contract, but union officials have said the copay could eat up the entire raise for some coaches making less than $40,000 a year.
The system now is asking the coaches to pay one-half of 1 percent of their gross salary to cover health costs, with the share increasing to 1 percent in 2007.
"We have had tough negotiations because of a very tight budget situation facing state universities," Gluck said. The system faces a $20 million increase in paying for health care costs next year, though it is expected to only get a $10 million budget increase from the state, he added.
Pay raises and performance evaluations are other key issues. Coaches have issued a counterproposal, Rees said.
Caught in the middle are student-athletes such as Jahri Evans, a 6-foot-4, 340-pound left tackle at Bloomsburg with dreams of a pro career.
Evans says he will back his head coach, union member Danny Hale, even if it means losing his last year of eligibility.
"It will be totally difficult for me. I will be highly disappointed," Evans said after bench pressing 225 pounds without breaking a sweat inside a desolate Bloomsburg weight room.
But Evans said he is trying to stay positive.
"I think it will be settled," he said. "I think there's a whole bunch of politics and stuff like that."