The Fresno chapter of the California Faculty Association (CFA) presented President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval with a petition demanding support for a fair contract for faculty last Friday.
“To be told that you’re only worth a 2% salary increase for one year of a three-year contract, and at the same time to have the chancellor go to the Board of Trustees and say, ‘We need to get at least a 10% raise for those who are already at the top of the food chain…’ That juxtaposition of those positions is really insulting and disrespectful,” said Diane Blair, statewide CFA officer and faculty member in the department of communication.
CFA committee members met Jiménez-Sandoval with hand-painted signs reading “Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions” alongside 544 food products for the Amendola Student Pantry to represent the signatures on the petition.
Following the presentation, Jiménez-Sandoval received a physical copy of the petition and offered a brief comment on the CFA’s presentation.
“It’s good to know the faculty’s perspective, and it’s good to know what’s going on with the faculty. It’s always good to be informed about the pulse of what’s happening at the university, and I always welcome any and all communication with me,” he said.
The petition outlines the need for Jiménez-Sandoval’s support in telling California State University (CSU) Chancellor Joseph I. Castro to settle a fair contract for faculty and to address the needs of faculty.
“And so in doing so, that would mean that in addressing, say, wages for contingent faculty… Some of them are living paycheck to paycheck at other campuses,” said CFA Fresno Chapter President John Beynon.
Currently, the CFA is at an impasse with the CSU, a move which Beynon said came about due to the lack of bargaining in “good faith” from the CSU throughout the process.
“Hopefully, we’ll come to some common ground, right, but if they’re not willing to do that, then the conversation stops,” Beynon said. “And that’s what’s happened recently because our bargaining team, the CFA bargaining team, declared an impasse, which basically meant: we can’t keep doing this over and over, because nothing is happening.”
In a multi campus effort throughout the CSU, Beynon said CFA chapters will present petitions demanding that Castro improve working conditions for all faculty in anticipation of the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 9-10.
Beynon, also a professor of English at Fresno State, said the CFA bargaining team has made multiple proposals since last March for an improved contract to the CSU Board of Trustees with limited traction. The proposals address issues including the improvement of the working conditions of faculty, improved job security and increased salary particularly following the impact of COVID-19.
In particular, faculty saw a disparity with the Board of Trustees’ proposed 10% increase in salary for the next three years for CSU presidents in comparison to the 2% salary increase for one year within a three-year contract for faculty.
“So I know the administrators, they think, ‘What we do is very important.’ And it is important but not as important as the faculty, and not as important as the interaction that happens between faculty and students. That’s the heart of the university,” said Doug Singleton, professor and chair of the physics department.
Beynon noted that the traction of the petition is encouraging as it calls on CSU presidents to advocate for faculty, and also demonstrates the unity of the efforts to improve faculty working conditions throughout the CSU.
“Because in my experience, it’s more often the case that a president will come back from those meetings, right, telling the faculty that this is what we’re doing because this is what the chancellor’s office wants, or this is what the Board of Trustees wants… So we’re hoping that this is going to just sort of shift that dynamic so that the president ends up confronting the chancellor on behalf of the faculty,” Beynon said.
Students for Quality Education (SQE) was also present in solidarity with faculty.
Tanya Acosta, a member of SQE and Fresno State senior, said that the proposals from the CSU are “disrespectful,” especially after what students and faculty experienced during the pandemic.
“We’ve been going through COVID and the pandemic that really hit us hard, and for them to offer a low raise, or if at all any, it’s just disrespectful and, quite honestly, downright embarrassing that we treat our faculty like this,” Acosta said.
She noted that the faculty work directly with students, and the quality of education for students ties directly with their efforts.
“So whatever happens to them impacts us directly and as students. We’re here to learn and engage with our faculty,” Acosta said. “And if they can’t offer the best education because [it is] out of their control, then it really affects and harms us. So we want to be here in solidarity with them.”
