Cal State faculty to vote on strike

North County Times 2/22/07

By Ned Randolph

Faculty members at the 23 California State University campuses, including San Marcos, will be asked to authorize their labor union to call a strike if a months-long salary dispute with the administration continues to go unresolved after final mediations next month, union leadership announced Wednesday.

The union's board members voted unanimously on Tuesday to hold elections on every campus during the weeks of March 5-8 or March 12-15, depending on class schedules, said John Travis, president of the California Faculty Association and a Humbolt State professor.

The vote at Cal State San Marcos has not been scheduled, but union spokeswoman Alice Sunshine guessed it would happen in the first week along with San Diego State.

"I feel confident that the San Marcos campus is ready for this," said Janet Powell, the local faculty representative and a professor in the College of Education. "We've talked about it for a long time. I think people are well-informed about what would happen."

If the union votes for a labor action, a series of rolling strikes would take place on each campus for one- to two-day intervals. The timing of the strikes would overlap to present a continual strike systemwide.

It would be the first strike vote conducted in the Cal State system, and the largest conducted in U.S. higher education history, Travis said.

"We have said all along that no one wants a strike, but we will strike if that's what it takes," Travis said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

If a majority of voters approve the strike, it will likely take place in late March or early April, he said.

The move is dependent upon the final stage of labor negotiations which will conclude in mid March. A third-party mediator will make a recommendation for both sides at that time, followed by a 10 day dark period to consider the proposal, he said.

The contract dispute has been ongoing for two years. The current labor contract with faculty expired in July and was extended to the end of this month, Travis said.

Cal State lecturers and professors earn 18 percent below the average wage among U.S. universities, he said, and more than 12,000 of their members earn less than $43,000 a year.

Meanwhile, the administration has been unwilling to move from its initial offer in July, which was a 17 percent increase in guaranteed wages and another 8 percent in questionable accounting, he said.

"We've countered more than twice, but they refused to move from their position," he said.

The administration says it offered as much as a 25 percent raise over the life of the 4-year contract, which would run to June 2010.

"We've made what we consider a very good offer; 24 1/2 percent over four years," said Claudia Keith, the administration spokesperson. "We made a very good offer, and put that out on the table, and they've chosen to reject that."

The strike, if authorized, would follow if both sides fail to agree on the mediator's recommendation.

"At that point, the faculty would be free to conduct job actions," Travis said.

The rolling strikes are meant to send a message to the administration while minimizing the educational impact on an individual student, he said.

"The biggest effort now is to educate the students who are concerned," said Powell of Cal State San Marcos. "I don't blame them for being concerned, but we're trying to assure them that we're trying to get the most attention with the least affect on them."