CSU Trustees scheduled to review deal next month
CSU Trustees scheduled to review deal next monthAfter eight months of negotiations with California State University, the California Faculty Association has a new labor contract. The CFA, which represents 29,000 faculty across all 23 campuses in the CSU system, voted on Feb. 19 in favor of the tentative agreement. Seventy-six percent of voting members voted to approve the agreement, according to a CFA statement. The CSU Board of Trustees Committee is scheduled to meet on Mar. 24 to review the deal.
According to the tentative agreement, all faculty will receive two general salary increases totaling more than 10 percent over the next six months. The deal includes a higher salary floor for CSU’s lowest-paid faculty and increased paid parental leave. The CFA said the deal also acknowledged “the need to improve students-to-counselor ratios, addresses workload relief, and addresses long-standing racial, social, and gender inequities.”
“Whether you voted ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on the [tentative agreement], continue to engage with your union and get more involved,” according to the statement. “Your voice matters in deciding our working conditions.”
The CSU Chancellor’s Office released a statement saying it looked forward to the Trustees meeting next month and working in partnership with the CFA “to carry out our mission in service to our students and the university.”
News of the tentative agreement was announced by the CFA in an email to members on Jan. 22 – the first day of the spring semester, at the end of the first day of what the union had planned to be a week-long, systemwide strike.
That day, striking CSUDH faculty picketed at entrances around campus, despite rainy weather conditions. Most classes had been canceled and many Toros stayed home, although some professors did hold class as scheduled. Some campus staff members also withheld their labor in solidarity with the union.
Some faculty were surprised to receive the CFA email ending the strike so soon after just one day and criticized the move in a union email thread. Critics felt the tentative agreement didn’t meet their demands and effectively undermined the purpose of the strike. The CFA hosted a town hall forum on Jan. 25 to address such concerns.
CSUDH labor studies professor Alfredo Carlos is the organizing chair and co-president of the CFA. In an interview with The Bulletin, Carlos acknowledged that there were “a lot of people” who weren’t happy with the deal and felt “[the union] lost a lot of ground over the last four years, in terms of the cost of living in LA.”
Carlos said some faculty may not have fully understood the “tentative agreement was part of a ‘reopener process’ [and] wasn’t a normal contract negotiation.” He said the union planned to engage in a “complete” negotiation next year, adding that the CSU had offered a deal that would have effectively tied the union’s hands.
“It locks us into not being able to negotiate on a lot of other things,” Carlos said. “Other things that affect students more directly.”
