CSU Faculty Schedule March Strike Vote

CBS-13 2/22/07

Associated Press

Faculty at the California State University system have scheduled a strike authorization vote, a first for the nation's largest four-year public university system.

California Faculty Association officials said Wednesday the vote is scheduled to take place March 5-8 at some of CSU's 23 campuses and March 12-15 at the remainder, with the results to be announced March 21.

The vote authorization comes after nearly two years of so-far fruitless contract negotiations.

"We want to make a statement," said John Travis, CFA president and a political science professor at Humboldt State University.

Faculty at CSU, which has more than 400,000 students, have never gone on strike and have never held such a vote, although they came close to scheduling a strike authorization vote in 2002, CFA officials said.

Contract negotiations began April 2005, but stalled last December. The issues, which include the amount of pay increase, are now before a fact-finder.

"We need to let that process continue," said CSU spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow. "Once we see the results of the fact-finding, then is the time to take action."

Travis said if faculty wait until fact-finding is over, it may be too late.

"Nobody's going to notice if we strike in the summer," he said.

Strike authorization would require approval by 50 percent of CFA membership plus one. If that happened, CFA leaders say they most likely will have "rolling walkouts"—faculty striking for a short time on various campuses—to lessen the impact on students.