California State University officials and the union that represents campus faculty members are expressing optimism they will be able to reach a salary agreement that would prevent a five-day strike starting next week.
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The CFA will strike across all campuses in the CSU system if the chancellor does not meet faculty demands for a 5-percent General Salary Increase and a 2.65-percent Service Salary Increase for all CSU faculty.
The California Faculty Association said that it would postpone the planned strike, which would have begun on April 13, pending union members’ ratification of the terms of the new contract.
In a statement Wednesday, the union said, “There is hope that talks between the California Faculty Association and the California State University may avert a five-day (strike)”.
No details of the possible settlement were announced, and both sides said they would adhere to a 48-hour “blackout period”, during which neither will respond to media interviews or give any statements regarding the status of the talks. The faculty rejected a two percent salary increase offered by the CSU Chancellor’s Office last October.
An independent fact-finding report issued in March, recommended that the administration put some scheduled projects on hold to provide the 5 percent raise its faculty is requesting.
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“At the conclusion of the 48 hours we will either have a tentative agreement or it will be full speed ahead towards the strike”, Eagan said. “I can not spend money I do not have”, he told the Los Angeles Times.
