A veteran fact-finder has confirmed a tentative contract agreement between the state and its largest employee union, saying it's the first time in his experience that the issues were "entirely concessionary."

David M. Pincus, in recommending a contract that would freeze wages for three years and mandate 10-day, unpaid furloughs for all 35,000 union employees, called the economic environment that necessitated it "septic."

"To the union's credit, it has accepted the realities of the present economy with a willingness to engage in a series of mutually agreed to cost savings measures," Pincus wrote. "These necessary measures will allow the state of Ohio a temporary, economic reprieve with a hope of saving additional positions without extensive layoffs."

The contract must now be voted on by the members of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association and subsequently approved on behalf of the Strickland administration by the state Controlling Board, a bipartisan legislative spending oversight panel.

The state and union leaders are maintaining a "news blackout" and will not comment on the contract.

A copy of the fact-finder's report obtained by The Dispatch confirmed that all sections of the tentative agreement were recommended by the fact-finder.

But it also includes a potential deal-breaker that says if state negotiators do not obtain similar agreements with other unions that include 10-day unpaid furloughs, the OCSEA pact is off. The union would then get "the more generous package," Pincus wrote.

The Strickland administration has vowed that the concessions package agreed to by the union will apply to thousands of non-union employees, including the governor himself, who would lose $5,132 in pay because of the unpaid furlough.

The fact-finder's report also included provisions for freezing accrual of personal leave (four days per year) and step pay increases for two years, adding intermittent workers who will pay union dues to the bargaining unit, and giving employees a 32-hour cash bonus and 32 additional hours of sick leave in the third year of the contract.