SOUTH POINT — The union representing non-teaching employees at South Point Local School District overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer from the board of education Thursday night extending an impasse between the two parties.

The two sides have been at odds over a new contract for approximately 80 employees since August and met Wednesday with a federal mediator. The parties will likely head back to mediation in the coming weeks.

Sandi Baise, president the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 480, which represents the bus drivers, cooks, aides, custodians, and secretaries in the school system said she still remains hopeful a strike can be avoided even following Thursday’s 59-3 vote to reject the new contract offer.

Before this week’s mediation, the union and school board were at odds over plans to eliminate a cook’s coordinator position and the removal of Article 27 from the employees’ contract, which concerns the reclassification and declassification of jobs.

But instead of addressing those two issues, in mediation this week, Baise said the board’s negotiators “moved backward.” They demanded employees accept additional changes to their contract including allowing the superintendent to decide who may and may not receive donated sick leave and preventing the school board from offering non-teaching staff the same health insurance rates as other employees.

Baise said employees feel they are being treated unfairly.

“Every offer they have given us has asked for everything important in our contract,” she said. “We went into these negotiations and asked for nothing from the get go. They rolled the teachers contract with no change and now they are asking for our entire contract practically.”

“We have already offered concessions on our insurance, severance, holidays, organizational rights, working conditions, pay and allowance and it wasn’t enough,” Baise said. ““Most of the concessions they asked for we gave up willingly, but we had to stay stop,” Baise said.

“If they can classify and declassify any job they choose we don’t have a ghost of a chance. We’ll all be minimum wage employees. It just takes the meat out of our contract.”

“They won’t even talk to us unless we give them the cook’s coordinator job and the article 27 out of our contract,” she said. “They are holding our contract hostage over those two things.

Robert Cross, of Cross Management Consulting Services, who represents the school board, has said the proposed changes to the contract are required under Senate Bill 5. Cross could not be reached for comment following Thursdays’ vote.

SB 5 restricts public employees bargaining rights and compensation. In November, voters statewide will decide whether or not to repeal the legislation, which appears as Issue 2 on the ballot.

Baise said there is little doubt Issue 2, has affected their negotiations.