CSU professors threaten to strike
Camarillo Acorn
Members of the local chapter of the California Faculty Association, the union which represents 24,000 faculty members from the 23 campuses statewide, are frustrated that salary negotiations begun nearly two years ago have failed to gain members a pay raise.
Union representatives and CSU administrators are expected to meet today in Long Beach with a neutral arbitrator to take part in a fact-finding panel that both sides hope will help resolve bargaining issues.
"The faculty can't get by on one 3.5 percent increase in five years, and that's what we've had," said John Yudelson, a professor of business and communication and the union's local vice president. "We want to be able to at least keep pace with inflation, and I think the faculty realized that they have to stand up and say, 'Treat us as professionals.'"
Of the 230 faculty members at CSUCI, about 100 are paying members of the faculty union.
Yudelson said professors don't want to strike, but will if contract negotiations continue to languish.
"We're hoping that we don't have to, and like so many job actions you just have to wait and see how many people will walk," Yudelson said. "We hope the chancellor's office doesn't push us to that extreme because he might be unpleasantly surprised."
Union representatives said the information pickets, held on state university campuses throughout California, are meant to inform faculty and students of the stalled negotiations. The pickets were also meant to bring attention to the possibility of a strike by professors that may come if the two sides cannot reach an agreement.
Professors are frustrated that their average pay, which is in the low $70,000s, is below the national average. The CSU system is the largest in the U.S.
CSU administrators argue that their pay is also below the national average.
In a written statement, CSU officials said that they had offered an "excellent compensation" package but that the union had rejected the offer.
According to CSU officials, the offer "includes a 24.5 percent salary increase to be paid over the next three years," and that the "the actual value of the CSU offer will be a 27 percent increase in salary during the next three years once the annual increases in the CSU offer are compounded."
Earlier this year, top CSU administrators gave themselves a 4 percent raise. With that raise, Chancellor Charles B. Reed earns $377,000 a year. Reed's car and housing allowances are worth more than $70,000.
Critics of the CSU administration say the raises come at a bad time and that the faculty salary negations should have come first.
"The chancellor's office really needs to take a look statewide at budgetary practices as it impacts students and faculty and the community," said Lillian VegaCastaneda, a CSUCI professor and president of the union's local chapter.
Vega-Castaneda said the union is also frustrated by the fact that although faculty pay has seen little growth, tuition costs continue to climb.
According to union officials, tuition rates have risen by more than 35 percent since 2001.
"CSU used to be the gateway for underrepresented groups. It used to be affordable. It's not even affordable for many students," Vega-Castaneda said.
CSU officials argue that although tuition rates have gone up, average tuition fees at other state universities are about $6,700 a year, while full-time CSU students pay an average of $3,200 a year.