Union: CSU has $1.2B reserve
Times-Standard 3/21/07
”It is good for the institution to be financially healthy, but ultimately this is a question of values and priorities,” said John Travis, president of the California Faculty Association and Humboldt State University political science professor.
In a report on the CSU's financial flexibility, financial analyst Randy Barber, -- just days after the CSU Board of Trustees approved a 10 percent tuition increase -- concluded that CSU “has significant, sustained positive cash flows.”
Barber also said it's clear that these cash flows, along with large cash and short-term investment reserves, provide CSU with enough flexibility to fund the increases the faculty association has proposed.
”I think they're being disingenuous,” Travis said of CSU officials. “We're not convinced they don't have the flexibility that comes out of the liquidity we've seen here.”
But CSU officials aren't convinced of the report's findings.
”This money isn't just sitting around idle like it was suggested by the CFA,” said CSU spokesman Paul Browning.
CSU Chief Financial Officer and Vice Chancellor Richard West said the $1.2 billion can't be used for general employee and faculty salaries, but instead fund parking, student housing and student unions, and includes capital construction funds while buildings are under construction.
”The assertion that the faculty union has made regarding the CSU's $1.2 billion reserve is inaccurate and misleading,” a press release attributed to West said. “These funds are used to secure debt associated with construction projects and operating costs -- they can not be used for employee salaries.”
This report came a day before the CFA planned to announce the outcome of a member vote -- there are 10,100 CFA members of 23,000 faculty members -- on whether to strike after the labor negotiating period ends this month under state law.
Whether these findings will add any fuel to the fire that has been kindling for the last 22 months, as the faculty union and CSU administration haven't reached an agreement and have gone to fact-finding, is hard to say, Travis said. But they're always willing to negotiate, he said.
”There's nothing I would like better than to avoid a strike,” Travis said. “But there has to be a willingness on both sides. We're also pretty sure what is happening on the campuses is going to lead to some kind of action.”
Even so, CSU officials say their offer -- a 24.8 percent retroactive salary increase -- is fair and would end up costing taxpayers and students less than the 30 percent hike faculty are asking.
“The faculty was offered a generous raise,” Browning said.
HSU President Rollin Richmond, who wasn't available for comment, supports the administration's proposal, said Paul Mann, Humboldt State spokesman.
”Richmond's position on the negotiations between the CSU and CFA is that the CSU has made a good offer and the faculty should accept it,” Mann said.
A press conference to announce the results of the CFA strike vote is scheduled today at 10 a.m.
Since 2002, faculty salaries have remained stagnant while the CSU administration has raised its own salary by 23 percent, the CFA said. If a strike occurs, it would be the largest walkout of university faculty in the history of the United States.
The fact-finding report is scheduled to be made public March 25.