Red is the color of unity for the California Faculty Association members who are pledging to strike if the California State University chancellor’s office does not approve a higher salary increase.
CFA members are now in the last step of the bargaining process for a 5 percent salary increase, which is challenging the 2 percent proposed by the CSU.
“The chancellor has said from the get-go that even though he recognized that faculty have been disinvested in over the last decade in the end he says that’s only worth 2 percent in terms of a salary increase,” said Diane Blair, a Fresno State communication professor and the CFA campus chapter president. “Faculty are at a point where we went seven years without any general salary increase and it really hurts the faculty in terms of their purchasing power.”
Blair said most faculty wouldn’t even see the 2 percent salary increase because the chancellor is proposing an increase to the compensation pool, not faculty salaries.
“He is willing to pay 2 percent more in what it costs the CSU right now in faculty salary and benefits,” Blair said. “He is not even offering a 2 percent cost of living increase of cost of salary increase, it would probably shake out to be a 1.8 percent increase and that doesn’t even help us keep pace with cost of living increase in California.”
In the final stage of the process, both the CSU and CFA have to explain their positions to a state-appointed independent fact finder, Blair said. The independent fact finder has already begun to hear the arguments from both sides, which are submitted in written briefs summarizing their positions and providing additional information to back their argument.
After the two week period, the independent fact finder will have 30 days to review the argument to present a written report and make recommendations of who is in the right and how both parties might resolve the conflict, Blair said.
During the initial 10 days after both sides receive the report a blackout period is issued the report will not go public in the hopes that either party will be willing to negotiate. The idea there is that maybe after the independent fact finder has issued her report, maybe either side will be willing to come back to the table and start negotiating again, Blair said.
“That’s all the hope that we have, that the report will be in our favorite and that will be sufficient pressure to get the chancellor to come back and start talking to us again,” Blair said. “If that doesn’t happen, it is at the point that we are able to begin engaging in strike action.
In November, 94.4 percent of the faculty across the CSU voted in favor of strike action if a satisfactory resolution is not obtained.
“Faculty thinks that a 5 percent general salary increase is fair and that would be for all faculty on our campuses,” Blair said. “We think that what we have proposed is fair and it’s reasonable, and is inline with what other educators are getting across the state in terms of salary increases.”
Other educators across the state who teach teach K-12, in the UCs and even faculty who teach in the community colleges have better salaries than faculty teaching in the CSU, said Jennifer Eagan, statewide CFA president.
“We have seen a lot of public employees across the state get raises that are more on the order of 5 or 6 percent because their employers are recognizing the times are good and their employees need to catch up and their wages need to keep pace with inflation,” Eagan said. “We are just wondering why the CSU is out of step with other public agencies. The ball is really in the chancellor’s court. It is up to him to show leadership and decide whether or not he wants to invest in faculty and put more money in the classroom.”
One of the things Eagan hears from other faculty members is they are not sure they can afford to teach in the CSUs anymore. To hire good colleagues and professors a competitive salary has to be offered to prospecting faculty members, if not they will chose to teach in higher-paying educational institutions, said Eagan.
The CSU’s view is that a strike is not in the best interest of the students, said Toni Molle,
Director of Public Affairs in the CSU Office of the Chancellor.
“The CSU is committed to serving our students, and will take the appropriate steps to sustain quality education programs that allows students to stay on the path to degree completion,” she continued.
But the faculty as a whole feel they did their share to keep the CSU running during the difficult budget time in the recession, and now that the CSU is being slowly funded again the faculty need to be a priority, said Blair.
“Faculty don’t want to strike, but they recognize that at some point you have to stand up for yourself,” Blair said. “I think it is important for students to recognise that learning goes on both inside and outside of the class, we are trying to be role models for our students and one of the ways we can be role models is embodying the fact that we don’t have to just accept what an employer put in front of us and says ‘this is all you’re worth to us.’ It is a good thing to stand up for yourself.”
CFA is encouraging participating faculty to be completely transparent with their students and to include a statement in their syllabus in regards to the possibility of a strike. Although the details of when or how the strike actions might look are unclear, no action will take place before spring break, Blair said.
“We think it’s time that they start reinvesting in the classroom, and that means reinvesting in the faculty that are in those classrooms,” said Egan. “CSU faculty, myself included, we love our job and we love your students but there is a difference between loving your job and being exploited.”