Stalled salary talks are triggering a strike vote Monday for 25,000 professors and other Cal State University employees.
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According to releases issued Wednesday and on September 24, the CFA and the California State University (CSU) system Chancellor’s Office are in mediation over salary arrangements for 2015-2016, and the Chancellor’s Office has rejected a five percent General Salary Increase (GSI) and 2.65 Service Salary Increase (SSI) for eligible faculty.
“After years of stagnant faculty wages, the faculty on our public university campuses are angry, and we are ready for this strike vote”, Eagan said.
A few students said however, a strike now may result in a better quality education in the long run.
The chancellor’s office is offering 2 percent salary increases. A strike, she said, would not happen until after the first of the year.
From 2004 to 2014, CSU faculty salary has only increased 10 percent while the average president’s salary grew 36 percent, according the CFA’s “Race to the Bottom” paper.
The vote is the latest move in negotiations between faculty and Cal State officials.
“The university has a responsibility to support all priorities that affect student success”, she said. “Many of these adjunct faculty and lecturers make “$40,000 after teaching for 20 years-$50,000 if they are lucky”, according to Domingo Forasté.
Walkouts were averted in 2007 and 2012 when negotiators for the administration and the union reached settlements before strikes were declared.
“The last message I want to send to my student and to the community is that you should just take what is offered to you, even if it’s unfair”, Wehr said.
A majority vote in favor of a strike would not guarantee a walkout.
“I know professors put a lot of effort into getting a PhD and put in a lot of hard work and they deserve the pay for the work they’re doing”, she said. Marx is the head of Cal State San Bernardino’s chapter of the faculty association. “They are standing up for what they believe in and that’s something we all need to do”.
Ultimately, it’s the students who suffer by having frustrated faculty, who are spread too thin, he said.
“We’ve only gone on strike once, in 2011”, said Domingo Forasté. “We went for so long without raises”.
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The California Faculty Association represents all faculty in the CSU system, whether they’re members or not.
