California State University (CSU) faculty reached a tentative agreement Monday night with CSU management to end their planned five-day strike after its first day.
The new agreement retroactively raises the salaries of CSU faculty 5%, with another 5% increase scheduled for July 1, according to the California Faculty Association (CFA), a union comprised of more than 29,000 instructors, professors and coaches. The agreement, which the CFA has been fighting for the last eight months for, will also raise the salary floor for the lowest-paid faculty by $3,000.
“The collective action of so many lecturers, professors, counselors, librarians, and coaches over these last eight months forced CSU management to take our demands seriously,” CFA President Charles Toombs said in a Jan. 22 press release. “This tentative agreement makes major gains for all faculty at the CSU.”
The CFA fought previously for eight months to obtain an immediate pay increase of 12%, which CSU management said was not “financially viable.” CSU management countered with a 5% salary increase but refused to continue negotiating with the CFA before the strike, due to their unwillingness to move away from their proposed 12% pay increase. Ultimately both sides agreed on the current raise structure.
“I am extremely pleased and deeply appreciative that we have reached common ground with CFA that will end the strike immediately,” CSU Chancellor Mildred García said in a statement released Monday. “The agreement enables the CSU to fairly compensate its valued, world-class faculty while protecting the university system’s long-term financial sustainability.”
This current fight follows a larger trend of university faculty and employees fighting for higher wages. USC’s Graduate Student Workers Union ended its planned strike a day before it was set to begin after it reached a tentative agreement with USC last November. SCA adjunct professors also recently unionized to fight for higher pay and paths to full-time positions.