CSU faculty to vote on whether to strike over compensation

LONG BEACH (BCN) — About 25,000 faculty members from the 23 California State University campuses will vote next month on whether to strike, the California Faculty Association announced Thursday.

The vote, which will happen from Oct. 19 through Oct. 28, is contingent on the current bargaining process that is happening between the faculty union and the CSU Chancellor’s Office, according to union officials.

The two parties are in mediation over salary for the current 2015-16 school year, union officials said.

The chancellor’s office has already rejected the union’s proposal of a 5 percent general salary increase for all faculty members and a 2.65 percent service salary increase for eligible faculty, according to the union.

Instead, the chancellor’s office has offered a 2 percent salary increase, which the faculty rejected last October, union officials said.

“The research on higher education is clear,” California Faculty Association president Jennifer Eagan said in a statement. “Students do best when they have consistent support and help from teachers. Low pay and a pattern of disrespect for what faculty do will chase good teachers out of the classroom and harm students.”

According to a series of studies done by the union, over the last 10 years more than half of all CSU faculty has been hired into temporary positions with lower pay while the number of permanent, full-time tenure-line teaching positions has dropped.

“The lion’s share of faculty hiring in the CSU is into temporary, low-paid teaching jobs that do not offer a middle-class living. This situation is unsustainable and intolerable,” Eagan said.

“The California State University values our employees and, despite the past several lean budget years, continues to prioritize compensation for all employees,” CSU public affairs director Toni Molle said in an email.

“We are doing what we can, with finite resources, to address employee compensation while maintaining our commitment to other mission-central priorities that support student success and completion,” Molle said.