A tentative contract agreement has been reached that would increase salaries and address workload concerns for California State University faculty.
The agreement with the California Faculty Association, the union that represents more than 23,000 within the CSU system, was announced Thursday in a news release.
“As we approach the next year with limited resources and increased expectations at state and federal levels for increased outcomes, we have this agreement as the foundation on which to build a bright future for our students who deserve the highest-quality education programs in the state,” said CSU Chancellor Timothy White in a news release.
The agreement, which would replace the current contract that expired in June, would be in effect through 2017.
Although the agreement faces two votes before it can be implemented — from the CFA membership and CSU board of trustees — it addresses several of the union’s sticking points involving salary and workload.
According to a news release, the new agreement will include:
- A 1.6 percent salary increase for all CFA employees
- An additional 3 percent increase for some temporary and tenure-track faculty
- Salary adjustments for lecturers.
- An equity program pool of $2 million for tenure-track faculty.
- A $1.3 million pool to fund additional assigned time for faculty who provide exceptional levels of service to students.
- A $2.7 million pool to fund changes to instructional workload assignment for new probationary faculty.
CFA members held a rally at Fresno State Oct. 8 calling on President Joseph Castro to pressure the CSU administrators to adopt a new agreement. Both sides expressed cautious optimism that a new contract would be adopted soon.
However, Dr. Diane Blair, the CFA’s Fresno Chapter president, said “Of course, we’ve been cautiously hopeful each time the bargaining teams have met these past 10 months.”
