Poly faculty set to picket over stalled contract talks
SLO Tribune 1/11/07
Local members of the 23,000-strong California Faculty Association will hold an informational picket Tuesday in response to the negotiations and what they call an abuse of taxpayer money by the California State University Chancellor’s Office.
The picket will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in front of Poly’s administration building.
Similar informational pickets are planned at all 23 CSU campuses throughout January and into February.
"It’s to raise awareness on campus that negotiations haven’t gone anywhere," said Rich Saenz, a Cal Poly department chair and president of the California Faculty Association, San Luis Obispo chapter.
The CFA’s main issue is salary.
The Chancellor’s Office said it has offered the faculty a roughly 25 percent increase over a four-year contract.
"The CSU wants to come to an agreement with the faculty union so the 23,000 members can receive the salary and medical (benefits) they deserve," said Paul Browning, a spokesman for the Chancellor’s Office.
Union officials dispute the 25 percent figure, arguing that only about a 15 percent increase over four years is guaranteed and that additional raises are contingent upon state funding that might not be approved.
"Most of us feel like we’re being jerked around by the CSU administration," said Glen Thorncroft, an associate professor in the mechanical engineering department. "The administration is out of touch with what it’s like to be a college professor and live on those salaries."
Starting salaries at Cal Poly range from $51,228 for an assistant professor — a beginning position — to $59,196 for an associate professor, and $70,140 for a fully tenured professor. A full professor assigned to a department chair can make as much as $130,008, a Cal Poly spokeswoman said.
Another union aim, officials said, is to rework the salary structure to reduce salary inversion. According to the union, that’s when the university, trying to attract new faculty, offers a new hire the same pay or more than a longer-serving professor.
The CSU has proposed a merit system by which a pool of money would be set aside to raise salaries when inequities exist (based on a performance review). Union officials said money for the system will come out of the proposed raises.
"All these numbers on paper look impressive," said Cal Poly professor Manzar Foroohar, who is on the statewide bargaining team. "But when you go into the details, it’s going to be a disaster for us."
The union has received only one 3.5 percent raise since 2002. Meanwhile, union officials are frustrated by raises given to CSU college presidents and high-ranking executives, while student fees continued to rise.
Cal Poly President Warren Baker — the longest serving and highest paid of the CSU presidents — received a 13.7 percent salary increase in November 2005, bringing his annual salary to $286,896.
Meanwhile, negotiations continue between the faculty union and the CSU. In mid-
December, a state-appointed mediator said mediation failed to break the impasse.
The next phase in the bargaining process, according to CFA, is fact-finding, a non binding process in which a state- appointed third party makes recommendations to resolve the impasse. That will begin later this month.