Faculty Prepare for Strike at Sac State: the CSU

 

Members of the California Faculty Association rallied during a strike in December at San Francisco State University. Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated Press

Faculty members at the California State University system, the nation’s largest four-year public university system, are planning to cancel classes and strike next week as they demand higher pay and better benefits.

The California Faculty Association, which represents 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches, says it will begin a five-day strike on Monday, the first day of the spring semester for most students. Walkouts are planned at all 23 campuses, from Humboldt to San Diego, which together serve nearly 460,000 students.

The strike was set after university officials ended contract negotiations last week, having offered 5 percent raises; the union is seeking 12 percent pay increases. University leaders said they were grappling with a huge budget deficit and could not afford to meet the union’s demands without resorting to layoffs and other cuts.

“We have been in the bargaining process for eight months and the C.F.A. has shown no movement, leaving us no other option” but to break off the talks, Leora Freedman, the university system’s vice chancellor for human resources, said in a statement. She added that the system had recently agreed on 5 percent pay increases with five other labor unions.

The union’s president, Charles Toombs, said he hoped that the university would return to the bargaining table so the strike could be averted.

In addition to raises, the union also wants to increase the salary floor for full-time employees to $64,360 from $54,360, and is asking for other provisions, including caps on class sizes and expansion of paid parental leave.

“That is where we stand,” Toombs told me. “We know that a systemwide strike in the C.S.U. is going to be historic.”

The union’s members mounted one-day work stoppages in early December at four of the system’s largest campuses: Cal Poly Pomona, San Francisco State, Cal State Los Angeles and Sacramento State.

Hazel Kelly, a spokesperson for the system, told me that all campuses would remain open during the strike and that university leaders would try to limit disruptions to students. She said it was possible that not all classes would be canceled, because some faculty members may not participate in the strike.

The job action comes after an especially busy year for labor actions, particularly in California. Hollywood actors and writers went on strike; so did hotel and health care workers. Los Angeles schools employees staged a huge walkout in March, and Oakland educators were off the job for nearly two weeks in May.