California Faculty Association members picket at California State University Los Angeles.
(
Brian Feinzimer
/
LAist
)
Topline:
Faculty members across the California State University system went on strike Monday over failed contract negotiations.
Why it matters: Faculty will withhold all their labor, including teaching, grading, answering emails, and holding office hours.
Why now: The California Faculty Association — which represents professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches — and CSU management are in a deadlock over contract negotiations.
The backstory: Since May 2023,the CFA has asked for a 12% pay raise to help members keep up with the rising cost of living, along with more manageable workloads, more counselors for students, and expanded parental leave.
Cal State leaders said they can’t afford it. Instead, they’ve pushed the union to agree to a 5% pay raise, followed by two additional raises that would depend on state budget negotiations.
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.
Read All Of Our CSU Strike Coverage
The California Faculty Association is a union that represents 29,000 coaches, counselors, lecturers, librarians, and professors. They've been negotiating with California State University since last spring, and have staged a series of strikes.
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.
California Faculty Association members picket at California State University Los Angeles on January 22, 2024.
(
Brian Feinzimer
/
LAist
)
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.
(
Brian Feinzimer
/
LAist
)
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.
(
Brian Feinzimer
/
LAist
)
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.
(
Brian Feinzimer
/
LAist
)
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.
