Cal State heads off strike
Press-Enterprise 4/4/07
The agreement, which ends a 23-month dispute, will require voting by union members at each campus in coming weeks. It calls for a 20.7 percent increase in base pay for all faculty over four years, according to a statement issued by Cal State administrators Tuesday.
"We didn't get everything we wanted, but we got close to what we wanted," said John Travis, president of the California Faculty Association, the union that represents about 12,000 Cal State professors and lecturers at the system's 23 campuses. "We expect our members to ratify this. We think it's a good deal."
Additionally, $28 million will be set aside for merit raises and to adjust compensation for groups that are making less than they should, the statement said. Cal State officials also plan to seek a 1 percent increase for all employees' compensation in the state budget for each of the next three years, the Cal State statement said.
"This agreement strikes a realistic balance between providing deserved raises to our faculty and our limited financial resources," Chancellor Charles Reed said in a statement.
The total pay package will cost about $400 million over four years, according to system figures. Money will come from the general fund and revenues generated by fees, said Claudia Keith, Cal State spokeswoman.
Contract negotiations began in fall 2005, but stalled amid mounting criticism that the system's highest-paid executives have received hefty pay raises and other perks as student fees have risen.
In January, the board approved a 4 percent pay increase for the chancellor and the presidents of all 23 campuses. The Cal State board of trustees voted in March to raise student fees by 10 percent.
After the March 25 release of a fact finder's report that found that Cal State faculty pay "was lagging in the double digits behind their comparable institutions," both sides agreed to a 10-day contract extension to use the recommendations as a framework for an agreement.
According to the Cal State statement, the base salary increases will raise the average annual salary for professors who are eligible for tenure to $90,749, from $74,000, and the average salary for a full professor with tenure to $106,465, from $86,000, by the end of the contract period.
The faculty union says the current average annual salary for professors eligible for tenure is slightly lower, ranging from $71,000 to $72,000.
"We are pleased that we were able to come to an agreement with our faculty union," said Roberta Achtenberg, the board of trustees' chairwoman, in a statement. "This is good news for everybody, including our 417,000 students, and we look forward to moving ahead with getting our faculty their salary increases."
The pay issue had become the main sticking point in negotiations. Other faculty concerns included a reduction in class sizes and an increase in tenure-track positions.
Cal State professors and lecturers had voted two weeks ago, for the first time in its history, to strike. Faculty was planning a series of two-day rolling walkouts to begin this month.
"We were prepared and preparing and ready to strike, but that wasn't our first choice," said Susan Meisenhelder, past president of the California Faculty Association and an English professor at Cal State San Bernardino. "Our first choice was to teach. If there is ratification, I think faculty will be very happy."
The possibility of a strike worried students like Jessi Sessions, a senior at the San Bernardino campus. She welcomed word of the tentative agreement Tuesday.
"I'm graduating in 76 days," said Sessions, 23, a political science major. "The prospect of a strike could mean that I would not receive the credits for classes."
Cal State San Bernardino President Al Karnig said he was delighted to learn of the agreement.
"I'm very optimistic that each party will agree to the contract and we'll be off and running, and we'll have this hopefully behind us," Karnig said.
WHAT NEXT?
The California Faculty Association, the union that represents Cal State faculty and lecturers, will roll out a final contract to members for a vote in coming weeks.