CSU Faculty Strike On Hold After Tentative Agreement
NBC-11, 4/3/07
The union representing the 23,000-member faculty of the nation's largest public university system will vote on the deal in the next few weeks, said John Travis, president of the California Faculty Association.
"We pretty much got everything that we'd asked for," Travis said. "We're pretty satisfied with this agreement."
The terms of the new contract guarantee a nearly 21 percent pay raise over four years for all faculty, with some members eligible for pay hikes exceeding 31 percent.
"This agreement strikes a realistic balance between providing deserved raises to our faculty and our limited financial resources," CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said.
The salary dispute had been the main sticking point in negotiations that began in 2005. Base salary increases under the agreement would raise the average salary for a tenure-track faculty member from $74,000 to $90,749. The average salary for a full-time tenured professor would jump from $86,000 to $105,465 by the end of the contract period.
Faculty members had threatened to begin a series of two-day strikes on CSU campuses across the state starting next week if an agreement was not reached.
"Today, I am very pleased to see that both sides came together and put students' needs first by preventing a faculty strike. This agreement benefits students, faculty and administrators and will continue to improve the excellence of the CSU system," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a statement released Tuesday.