CSU faculty members dig in for fight over pay
`We're willing to stick this out the entire five days,' a striker says about the 12% wage increase demand and other benefits from the 23-school system
Despite rain across most of the state, California State University faculty members hit the picket lines Monday on the first day of a planned five-day strike.
In downtown San Jose, about 60 to 70 faculty members gathered around the perimeter of San Jose State University. They rang bells, blew whistles and beat drums while pacing with signs that read “faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.” At Fourth and San Carlos streets, the Queen and David Bowie hit “Under Pressure” blared from speakers. Sabrina Pinnell, a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, said they planned to picket throughout the day.
At Cal State University in Hayward about 80 union members gathered, blocking one of
the main entrances to campus as the rain started to clear. Faculty members — and one brown poodle — wore red ponchos and marched holding signs reading “stop hoarding billions, fund the
CSU.”
For months, the California Faculty Association, which represents 29,000 CSU faculty members throughout the state, has been in talks with the university, seeking a 12% raise, higher base pay for the lowestearning staff and expanded parental leave, among other demands.
California State University is one of the largest public university systems in the nation and includes 23 schools. The union's contract is set to expire in June.
Jennifer Eagan, faculty rights chair for Cal State East Bay, described the strike as “historic” and said the messaging coming from the chancellor's office over contract negotiations has been draconian, with threats of layoffs and docked pay.
“We're really intent on getting a salary increase that keeps us in pace with inflation,” she said. “It feels like our work load is going up and our pay given inflation is going down. All of us here, we want to serve our students.”
In a statement posted to the
CSU website Monday morning, the university system said it was in communication with the union over the weekend but would not be discussing “any details of those communications.”
“We respect the rights of the faculty union and their members to engage in strike activity and remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the California Faculty Association for the sake of our students, faculty, the system and the state,” the statement said.
All campuses will remain open this week, but CSU said that “individual faculty members who decide to strike will cancel their own classes.”
CSU's latest offer includes a 15% raise over three years — 5% each year — and two more weeks of paid parental leave, bringing the total to eight weeks. CSU said that the union's demand for a 12% raise would cost the university system $312 million this year, and that an increase in life insurance and raising the base pay for the lowest-paid faculty members would add an additional $68 million.
“This is financially unrealistic,” CSU's statement said. “Their request far surpasses the state funding increase that the CSU received in last year's state budget ($227 million) and is more than the entire budget of Cal Poly Pomona ($369 million).”
Jim Murray, a professor at Cal State East Bay and the chair of membership and organizing, joined the picket line and said he was disappointed the negotiations had come to this.
“The reason I'm out here is that our assistant professors and our lecturers can't afford to live,” he said. “We pay them less than the UCs, less than the community colleges. It's a huge challenge.”
Pinnell said that she hopes the strike brings CSU back to the bargaining table, calling the university system “completely unreasonable” for walking out on negotiations.
“We're willing to stick this out the entire five days,” she said. “Classes don't really start here until Wednesday, but even when classes start, we're willing to shut this campus down because we are that serious at this point.”