Results of strike vote expected next week

Administrators agree that if a California Faculty Association strike takes place, both the campus and the faculty will do what they can to reduce its effect on students.

Faculty at all CSU campuses have been voting on whether or not the faculty will go on strike when the period for negotiating ends this month. Fresno State̢۪s voting took place March 12-15.

Negotiations have been under way for almost two years. Results of the vote will be announced sometime next week.

Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Paul Oliaro said if the strike occurs, it will most likely be a rolling strike format to lessen the impact on students.

“I don’t think anybody involved in this process wants to seriously damage or disadvantage students’ opportunities to complete the semester or complete their degree,� Oliaro said.

According to Oliaro, students should try to stay informed about the issues and look for information that will help them.

If classes are cancelled, Oliaro said the campus would try to find different ways to communicate to students which classes are available and which are not.

Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Janette Redd Williams said, “If they [faculty] are going to cancel class, I think they will communicate that to their students and the president will be asking them to do that.�

Redd Williams and Oliaro agree that students̢۪ interests are the primary concern for both the faculty and the administration.

“I believe the faculty have students’ interests at heart and don’t want them to be impacted by things such as driving a long distance and then finding out their class has been cancelled,� Redd Williams said.

According to Redd Williams, if the strike occurs, the current collective bargaining agreement will be expired, “but both the CSU and the CFA will have an obligation to maintain the practice that the collective bargaining agreement establishes until there is a new contract or other terms or conditions of employment have been established.�

This includes Article 24.5 of the agreement, which states that it is up to the faculty to inform the proper administrator — their deans — if they are going to be absent.

If the CFA goes on strike, it could be one of the largest strikes in U.S. history. The CFA represents the 23,000 plus faculty members who work for the CSU System.

While the CFA is the bargaining agent for all professors, lecturers and coaches in the system, only about 40 percent of Fresno State̢۪s faculty are official members of the CFA. According the CFA̢۪s Web site, about 480 Fresno State faculty members are recognized members of the CFA.

All faculty of the CSU System have deductions on their paychecks for the CFA, but this deduction does not make all faculty automatic members of the CFA.

Fresno State English professor and CFA member Dr. Lisa Weston said Thursday was the best day for voter turnout. She said Monday was “reasonably good,� with Tuesday and Wednesday as slower voting days.

“It’s hard for them to find five minutes to come out and vote,� Weston said of CFA member, citing midterms and committee meetings as reasons for not having time to vote.

However, faculty members were able to vote via e-mail if they were unable to make it to the polling booths this past week.

Weston said all 23 CSU campuses will send their votes to the League of Women Voters in Los Angeles, and the results are expected to be out by the end of next week.

Only official members of the CFA were allowed to vote in the election that will determine whether or not the faculty begins to strike.

Oliaro said, “Faculty will make their own informed choices about how they want to express themselves during this period.�

Faculty is not required by the union to strike. Members who choose not to hold class would not be paid for time out of the classroom. Whether or not faculty chooses to participate in a strike, they will not face recriminations from the administration.

“If anyone feels that their choice not to participate results in retaliation that affects their job or employment rights,� Redd Williams said, “they would be able to file a complaint or grievance and have the issue dealt with and resolved.�

The CFA Web site said that as of 2005, 59 percent of tenure-track faculty were members of the CFA, and lecturers who teach for different time increments vary between 11 and 34 percent participation.

For lecturers or associate professors who are seeking promotion or tenure, any participation they have with a strike would not count against them in the retention, tenure and promotion.

Oliaro said he believes there is respect between faculty members and between the faculty and the administration.

“I think we all believe that this will get settled hopefully in the very near future and we will all go back to maintaining the relationships that everyone has worked hard to develop,� Oliaro said.

For the time being Oliaro said, “I would ask students not to overreact at this point and assume worst case scenario.

“We’re still a campus community and what we don’t want to do in anyway is disrupt that sense of community between faculty and students, between administration and faculty — we’re all in this enterprise together,â€? Oliaro said. “People will do what that they feel they need to do, but I don’t think it will be malicious. I think it will be respectful.”