Cal State Faculty Approves Plans To Strike If Necessary
On Monday, the California Faculty Association approved strike plans, with 95% of its members voting to approve the plans and authorize leadership to pull tens of thousands of instructors from teaching. Their demands include decreasing class sizes, increasing wages of the lowest-paid instructors, expanding parental leave, and providing lactation rooms for new parents. Cal State argues that it cannot afford the demands of the union, which the union has disputed. Although the authorization doesn’t mean a strike is imminent, it doesn’t threaten to upend the education of over 40,000 students and the nation’s largest public four-year university system. Joining us today on AirTalk is Mikhail Zinshteyn, higher education reporter at CalMatters.
Has Community College Enrollment Recovered Since The Pandemic?
After significant declines, could enrollment at California’s community colleges be bouncing back? The state chancellor’s office says it is, and the major drivers are dual enrollment and career-focused programs, according to EdSource. But some reports say there are complexities to this rebound.
Joining to discuss her new beat is Julia Barajas, LAist’s new community colleges reporter. Do you have thoughts or questions? Call us at 866-893-5722 or email atcomments@laist.com.
Love The Golden State? David Kipen’s New Book ‘Dear California’ Might Be Just For You
California is so many things to so many people -- a home and a vacation destination, a dream and a reality, the grandest stage and the smallest town, and so much more. In his new book “Dear California: The Golden State in Diaries and Letters,” author David Kipen explores the good, the bad, and the ugly of California through essays and dispatches from the famous to the unknown, from natives and indigenous Californians to visitors just passing through. The collection of writings explores the patchwork of people and ideas that have helped mold the Golden State, digs into the search for the California Dream, and whether it can ever be realized, and aims to help us understand the allure, successes and failures of our home. Today on AirTalk, David Kipen joins us to talk about “Dear California” and the people whose essays helped craft it.
Couples Who Bank Together, Stay Together: Link Between Joint Accounts And Happy Marriages
What’s mine, is yours – is ours. A recent study finds that married couples who merge bank accounts tend to find more satisfaction and happiness within relationships. Over two hundred newlyweds were surveyed over a two-year period – divided into groups requiring merged accounts, separate accounts, and their own choice. While the second two groups saw an 8% and 13% dip in marriage satisfaction, the first group – joint accounts – saw a 6% improvement. They made it through the honeymoon phase, shared account intact. Sure, this could be an indicator of trust, financial-goal setting, or inherent compatibility…or, the secret to a fulfilled marriage. Today on the program, we want to hear from you: do you and your spouse have a joint bank account? Or do you prefer to keep things separate, and how’s that worked out for you? We’re joined today by Eli Finkel, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, where he directs their Relationships and Motivation Lab.
Do You Use Sick Days For Things Other Than Being Sick? You Might Not Be Alone
A new piece from the Wall Street Journal got into an interesting phenomenon, detailing that since 2019 there’s been an increase in U.S. white-collar employees taking sick leave, with 30% of workers having taken sick time off (compared to 21% in 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic of course explains most of the increase, but as of late one suggested impact has been an increase of folks citing mental health sick days. It’s a change that offers some benefits and potential negatives; workplaces can find lower thresholds for sick days. It could also mean greater cost for employers. But how do these cost-benefits get weighed out and how do Human Resource experts factor that into their suggested workplace policies?
Today on AirTalk, we discuss this with Dana Mayhew, founder & principal of the consulting firm TDC Consults, and Alec Levenson, senior research scientist at USC’s Marshall Center for Effective Organizations.
