COLUMBUS — Ohio’s State Employment Relations Board (SERB) has ruled that the strike now under way by AAUP-WSU is legal.

In a one-sentence determination Jan. 27 the board said, “SERB finds that the strike is authorized.”

AAUP-WSU — the American Association of University Professors, Wright State University Chapter — is the union representing all full-time WSU faculty (except administrators) with appointments in the university’s primary academic colleges on both the Dayton and Celina campuses.

The union and Wright State administration have been unable to agree upon a new contract terms for faculty members for approximately two years. The strike started Jan. 22 after members rejected the Wright State University Board of Trustees unilaterally adopted “last, best offer” earlier this month.

Wright State University asked the state labor board Jan. 24 to determine if the strike is unauthorized.

Wright State said in a press release that it had reported evidence to the SERB that the union strike is taking place for a reason prohibited by state law and stated that the strike is unauthorized because the executive committee for the AAUP-WSU told its members in writing to “confound” Wright State’s efforts to continue operations and hosting classes during the strike. Wright State reported that if the SERB rules in favor of the college that the AAUP-WSU would have to “immediately cease and desist all strike activity.”

The AAUP-WSU responded in a press release and said the filing “confirms” that the “strike is effective, and the administration is finding that Wright State University cannot function without us.”