CSUS strike vowed April 11-12 if no pact
Sacramento Bee 3/30/07
Faculty and California State University administrators are still trying to hammer out a deal on faculty salary increases. They're in the middle of a 10-day contract extension following an independent report recommending a nearly 25 percent pay raise for 23,000 faculty.
Union officials say they agree with most of the report. CSU Chancellor Charles Reed has said he believes a deal can be reached soon.
"It keeps us cautiously optimistic," said Cecil Canton, a professor of criminal justice and head of the faculty association at California State University, Sacramento. "But proceeding as we are is the prudent thing to do."
California Faculty Association members statewide overwhelmingly authorized rolling walkouts earlier this month, though they did not announce specific dates or locations for the strikes until Thursday.
Along with Sacramento State, CSU Los Angeles, CSU San Marcos, CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU East Bay, and the California Maritime Academy also plan to go on two-day strikes the week of April 9. More campuses would strike in the following weeks, union officials said.
The CSU Chancellor's Office said negotiations are still taking place and setting strike dates hurts the process.
"It's counterproductive to talk about strike dates when both sides are working hard," said CSU spokeswoman Claudia Keith.
No one is sure how many faculty members would walk out, but it's clear a large number of Sacramento State classes would be canceled if the strike proceeds. About 96 percent of faculty who voted -- not all faculty are active members of the union -- at Sacramento State approved of the strike.
Kevin Wehr, an active union member and assistant professor of sociology at Sacramento State, said he would begin telling his students about the strike dates when they return from spring break next week.
"Students miss a lot more classes than that due to illness or traffic," said Wehr, referring to the two days of classes that could be canceled. "Nobody's graduation is being threatened."
Jude Antonyappan sees it differently. An associate professor of social work at Sacramento State, she thinks the two sides aren't that far apart and that a strike could be avoided with a little creativity. She believes that students would be hurt by any strike.
"We have a moral obligation to people who paid for a service," she said. "That is the bottom line."
Neither side Thursday would discuss exactly how much progress -- or lack thereof -- is being made in the ongoing contract talks.
Canton, the union chapter president, said the strike vote has brought faculty members together and that a strike would itself be a learning experience for students.
"It's going to be exciting," he said. "It's going to be fun. It's going to be effective."