The Brief

Faculty members across the California State University system went on strike Monday over failed contract negotiations.

The California Faculty Association — which represents 29,000 professors (tenure-line and otherwise), lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches — has told its members to withhold all their labor. This includes teaching, grading, answering emails, and holding office hours.

More than 450,000 students may be without classes.

The labor action follows months of fruitless contract negotiations between the CFA and CSU management.

To keep up with the rising cost of living, the CFA has sought a 12% pay raise since May 2023. The union also has other demands: raising the salary floor for the lowest-paid faculty, establishing more manageable workloads, securing more counselors for students, and expanding parental leave.

Cal State leaders say the system cannot afford a 12% increase. Instead, they’ve pushed the faculty union to agree to a 5% pay raise, followed by two additional 5% raises in subsequent fiscal years. However, those future pay raises would depend on state budget negotiations between the governor and lawmakers.

CSU approved a plan this fall that raises tuition by 6% for each of the next five years.

California Faculty Association members picket at California State University Los Angeles on January 22, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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Who's in the union?

Lecturers make up the bulk of the California Faculty Association.

Are the two sides close to a deal? 

This week’s strike, which is scheduled to run through Friday, represents an escalation in the union’s efforts to secure the terms it seeks. In December, faculty at four campuses — including Cal State L.A. and Cal Poly Pomona — staged one-day strikes.

In an emailed statement, the union said it's been met with “disrespect and derision by management.”

Natural Sciences adjunct lecturer Michelle Vanegas stands for a portrait at a California Faculty Association members strike at California State University, Los Angeles.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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During negotiations, “CSU management has only addressed our conflict over salary; they have completely ignored the issues of workload, health and safety concerns, and parental leave,” said Chris Cox, a lecturer at San José State and CFA vice president of racial and social justice.

At a news conference ahead of this week’s systemwide strike, chancellor Mildred García said she and her colleagues are “ready and willing to come back to the bargaining table.”

Faculty members “unquestionably” deserve a pay raise, she added. “But we must work within our financial realities.”

California Faculty Association members picket at California State University Los Angeles on January 22, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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How will this affect students?

Christina Checel, associate vice chancellor of labor and employee relations, underscored that the CSU “will remain open for business next week” — though “individual faculty members who decide to strike will cancel their own classes.”

She encouraged students across the CSU’s 23 campuses to check their class portals or contact their professors to find out if they intend to hold class.

The CFA has told members it expects many students will join them on the picket line and that the strike is “an opportunity to demonstrate for our students what collective action for justice looks like.”

CSU Students for Quality Education member Ashley Gregory stands for a portrait at a California Faculty Association members strike at California State University Los Angeles on January 22, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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One of those students is CSU Los Angeles student Martha Mejia, a social work major who transferred from L.A. City College. She said she's picketing in part because she wants her children to go to a university where educators are paid well.

"I have a high schooler," she said. "To think they’re going to come to this kind of atmosphere, that’s not OK."

She plans to be back in class Tuesday; some professors not only didn't cancel class, she said, but are counting attendance against students' grade.

Wasn't another CSU union going on strike?

Teamsters Local 2010, which represents skilled trade workers — electricians, plumbers, repairpeople, etc. — had planned a solidarity strike alongside CFA this coming week. The Teamsters unit had been negotiating its own agreement with Cal State administration.

Cal State University officials announced Friday that both sides had reached a tentative deal.

“I offer my most enthusiastic congratulations to everyone involved in the negotiations and applaud their commitment to the collective bargaining process," García said.

Teamsters Local 2010 said highlights include an immediate 5% general salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2023. It also includes a minimum two-step increase for every member.

The deal means Teamsters Local 2010 will no longer strike alongside CFA. Both groups had authorized a strike back in October.

“We achieved this historic agreement by standing together as Teamsters — and in solidarity with our sister unions at CSU — to take powerful action like CSU has never seen before,” Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 2010 Jason Rabinowitz said.

Tiffany Ujiiye contributed to this article.

A slow leak from a chemical tank smeared an orange cloud across the sky of a Southern California neighborhood on Tuesday, but authorities said they quickly got it under control.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said authorities responded to a business that makes cleaning products after receiving a call shortly before noon about the cloud. Police evacuated a nearby middle school as a precaution, Katon said.

They do not yet know what the chemical was, but all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, he said. The regional air quality management district has deployed staff to the area to investigate, said Connie Villanueva, a spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The company, Shepard Bros., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Three company employees reported minor respiratory irritation and declined further treatment, Katon said.

The leak occurred in the city of La Habra near a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial warehouses about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Anaheim.

Keary Godinez, who works in a nearby restaurant, said she saw what appeared to be a dark yellow cloud spread across the sky. The 20-year-old said she watched students across the street board buses to evacuate, but police told her the eatery could remain open.

“It looked like pollen dust,” Godinez said, adding she didn’t detect a smell from the cloud. “It just kind of smeared in the sky and started going away.”

La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano had urged residents to shelter in place and said some streets were being evacuated.

Luis Gomez, who manages a nearby pickleball program, said earlier Tuesday he saw the cloud, called police and was told anyone within a mile radius of the location was under an evacuation order.

The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of former coach Phil Jackson outside their downtown arena next year.

The Lakers announced the plan Tuesday to honor Jackson, who led the Lakers to five championships and seven NBA Finals appearances during two stints totaling 11 seasons as their head coach.

The statue will be unveiled April 9 before the Lakers’ home game against Minnesota.

After his famed tenure leading Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls to six championships, Jackson joined the Lakers in 1999 and immediately began another era of major success for the 17-time NBA champion franchise.

His first three teams in Los Angeles won championships behind the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers added two more titles in 2009 and 2010 led by Bryant and Pau Gasol. His Lakers also made the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2008.

Jackson set the Lakers franchise record for coaches with 610 victories while leading his teams to the playoffs in every year of his tenure, which ended in 2011.

“Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “His masterful approach to coaching brought out the best in some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. After he accepted my dad’s invitation to join the Lakers, Phil’s unmatched creativity and commitment to excellence restored our championship legacy, bringing five titles and setting a standard of excellence for generations to come. It is a great joy to be able to mark that achievement with the statue he so richly deserves.”

Jackson will be the ninth person associated with the Lakers to be honored with a statue in Star Plaza outside their arena. He joins Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bryant, O’Neal, broadcaster Chick Hearn and former coach Pat Riley, whose statue was unveiled earlier this year.

Jackson’s 11 championships as a head coach are the most in NBA history. The North Dakota native and former New York Knicks forward is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.