By Fernanda M. Tovar
Editor-in-Chief
The California Faculty Association and the California State University administration have reached an agreement on a two-year contract extension for professors and other employees.
Jennifer Eagan, president of the faculty association, announced the pact in a Sept. 26 email. Members of the faculty union still must vote on the extension in order to ratify it.
“This tentative agreement extends the terms of the current contract until 2020, preserving faculty benefits,” said Kirti Sawhney Celly, a CSUDH marketing professor and spokesperson for the CFA. “Additionally, it gives faculty a 3.5% raise and a 2.5% raise in 2018 and 2019, respectively, which allows faculty to cope with inflation.”
The CFA represents 23,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches who teach in the California State University system.
Two years ago, there were strikes on all 23 CSU campuses, which organizers called the “Fight for 5.” Faculty were pushing for better wages.
Celly stressed the importance of all faculty to join the CFA. In order for the tentative agreement to go into effect, it will be formally voted on next month. Only CFA members are allowed to vote, so the union is urging non-members to join.
Celly said faculty health and pension benefits, which are up for renegotiation, are preserved for three more years.
“We do not need to bargain the new contract now, so that allows the CFA to invest its efforts into the vitally important areas of giving faculty the rights to teach, as they deem fit, own the rights to content they create and increase the number of tenure-line faculty through a variety of methods,” Celly said.
The agreement could mean more job security for lecturers, who don’t have tenure.
“For example, the CSU could convert many non-tenure track faculty (aka lecturers) to tenure track faculty,” Celly added. “Lecturers make up over 60% of the faculty. They make excellent contributions to our students’ education and still, many of them, though they teach full-time, are ‘temp’ employees. It would be good for them to get some stability and respect.”
