Clouds, chills and the threat of rain didn’t dissuade Sacramento State faculty from forming the first picket line of the spring semester. Professors, lecturers, librarians, coaches and counselors shut down the California State University’s 23 campuses Monday just as many of their students returned for the spring semester. The week-long shutdown follows a series of rolling one-day strikes across four campuses in December.
Roughly 75 people walked the picket line Monday outside Sacramento State, flanking the campus’ J Street entrance. The banners welcoming students back from break were covered with union-made signs that read, “Classes don’t start without us!” and “On strike! California Faculty Association.”
This latest labor action at the nation’s largest university system rides the wave of union momentum in higher education created by the 2022 monthlong strike at the University of California system. Teaching assistants and graduate student workers disrupted classes across UC campuses as the fall semester concluded.
The CFA, which represents 29,000 members, and university negotiators have spent nearly nine months haggling over salaries and other provisions as part of contract negotiation re-opener. Those non-salary demands include increased parental leave, greater access to gender-inclusive restrooms in campus buildings and more staff mental health counselors to help students. After the two sides hit an impasse in August, they engaged in mediation sessions with a third-party negotiator and then submitted to fact-finding with a neutral panelist.
From The Sacramento Bee.
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article284543095.html#storylink=cpy
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