A strike may be on the horizon for California State University (CSU) employees following unsuccessful negotiations for a new contract.
In August, CSU Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester released a Youtube Video addressing the bargaining issues.
“CSU is committed to fairly compensating you, our faculty and staff,” she said in the video. “We have made offers of significant multi-year compensation increases to both faculty and staff bargaining units, and we’ve done this at a time when the state is facing a revenue shortfall.”
The California Faculty Association (CFA) is seeking a 12 percent pay raise, as well as increased parental leave and other benefits. According to a brief from CSU, their initial counter was a five percent general salary increase for the current year.
In response, the CFA released a statement on their website saying, “their 5-percent GSI counteroffer means very little to the large percentage of faculty who can’t afford to live in California even on a full-time salary, and it does not keep up with inflation.”
Koester informed viewers that 75 percent of CSU’s costs are dedicated to employees’ salary and benefits, and warned faculty of the possible repercussions of overextending costs.
“If we extend ourselves further, each of the 23 universities will be put in a position where they’re going to be forced to make difficult and painful decisions. They’re going to have to reallocate their already limited financial resources to meet their increased costs of operation,” Koester said.
As of last month, CSU has increased their tuition by six percent, starting next year with costs increasing over the next five years. The CFA responded to Koester saying, “while management claims poverty, raises student fees by 34 percent over the next five years and refuses to pay the most disadvantaged faculty a living wage, they are somehow able to conjure up the money to offer our presidents upwards of a 29 percent pay increase and our new chancellor Mildred García a total annual compensation of $973,000, almost 30 percent more than the previous chancellor.”
Michelle Ramos Pellicia, CFA CSU San Marcos E-board Chapter President and professor at CSU San Marcos, shared the personal impact the situation has had.
“I see it in my colleagues. I want to be working in an environment that is safe for our colleagues and for myself, and having a police force militarized in full gear is very scary,” Ramos Pellicia said. “It’s not creating a safe campus, for me it creates a campus that I dread to walk in.”
Through personal experience and the shared experiences of her community, Ramos Pellicia said she feels the insecurity and threats from all around. One of her main concerns is making sure that her colleagues are working in a nurturing environment where they feel safe in every aspect of their life.
“We should be living in spaces where it is safe and clean to use the bathroom and not risk your safety.” Ramos Pellicia said. “We need to be working in a job where you can take a whole semester for parental leave to take care of ourselves and the life that we’re bringing to our families.”
The CFA is planning to go to the Chancellor’s office and rally in front of the Board of Trustees on Nov. 7, while simultaneously educating members and students on the issue at hand.
“We will decide when we’re going to strike and it’s going to be at a time when it works for us.” Ramos Pellicia said. “Not for management, but for us.”
Photo courtesy of Jaradpetroske / CC BY 4.0