CSU faculty eyes funds as strike vote is tallied
Sacramento Bee 3/21/07
Administration officials countered that the funds, which they say come from sources such as parking and student housing fees, are already marked for construction projects and other items and can't be used for other purposes.
The last-minute dispute highlights the gap between an administration that says it is offering all it can afford and faculty members who say they should get a better deal.
The faculty union will announce the results of the ongoing strike-authorization vote today.
"We're pretty sure that what is happening on the campuses is going to lead to some type of action," California Faculty Association President John Travis said Tuesday when asked about the strike vote.
The faculty association has negotiated for nearly two years with CSU, pushing for higher pay raises than the chancellor's office is proposing. If the strike is authorized -- and if an independent fact-finding report fails to bring both sides back to the table -- professors say they will implement a rolling walkout, campus by campus, later this spring.
CSU administration is proposing 4 percent to 5.5 percent raises over the next four years, plus an extra 1 percent each year of "merit pay" for qualifying professors.
The union wants 4 percent to 5.25 percent raises over four years, but it also wants an extra 2.65 percent to 3.15 percent each year for eligible professors to move up the pay ladder.
Moody's Investor Services, the faculty association said, raised CSU's revenue bond rating in February because unrestricted assets increased by 45 percent over the past five years. That's cash administrators can use for whatever they want, according to the association.
The union says those figures run counter to the system's claims that it can't afford to give bigger raises to faculty members.
"They have significant (cash) flows and they have the flexibility to handle the increase we are proposing," said Randy Barber, president of the Center for Economic Organizing, a consultant for the faculty association.
Not so, countered Claudia Keith, a spokeswoman with the CSU chancellor's office. "We have already encumbered that money," she said. "Those are dollars collected for a specific purpose."
More specifically, "those aren't monies we can use for salaries," Keith said.
A Moody's representative could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
In its announcement highlighting CSU's improved bond rating, Moody's cited "continued growth in financial reserves, enhancing the system's operating flexibility" and "increasing operating cash flow highlighting the system's operating strength."