Following a tentative agreement reached on Monday between union leaders at California State institutions and administrators, thousands of academic members in the state are scheduled to resume work on Tuesday.
Later in the day, following a walkout by faculty on Monday morning, administrators and representatives of the California Faculty Association tentatively agreed on compensation.
The agreement “reflects the solidarity displayed by faculty, staff, and students across all 23 campuses,” the association said in a statement. The agreement still needs to be approved by the union’s members. “This victory is a result of the hard work and dedication of all the faculty members who have been organizing on campus and in the community.”
Two weeks before to the system-wide walkout, CSU authorities had concluded contract discussions with a unilateral offer that included a 5% wage increase beginning on January 31. Representatives of the union requested hikes of 12%.
A 5% raise retroactive to last year and an additional 5% boost on July 1 are stipulated in the tentative agreement. The union, which represents over 29,000 workers, claims that it also raises the minimum pay for the faculty members who receive the lowest compensation.
🚨STRIKE DAY! Thousands on historic STATE-WIDE STRIKE!
📢TELL @thecsu management to invest in their FACULTY & STUDENTS!
⏰Time for manageable workloads, fair pay, more mental health counselors, better parental leave, & safe campuses. #RaisetheFloor #SolidaritySeason pic.twitter.com/nW4ikO83nW— California Faculty Association (@CFA_United) January 22, 2024
Since May 2023, the union has been negotiating a contract with the administrators. Among the many demands made by professors and other staff members were more pay, more reasonable workloads, and an extension of paid parental leave to a full semester.
Recent years have seen a surge in labor organization in higher education, partly due to the pandemic. Across the nation, postgraduate student and faculty unions won historic victories last year.
Cal State employees and the accord were commended by CSU Chancellor Mildred García on Monday.
“We have reached a common ground with CFA that will end the strike immediately,” García said in a statement. “I am extremely pleased and deeply appreciative.” “The agreement protects the long-term financial sustainability of the university system while enabling the CSU to fairly compensate its highly valued, world-class faculty.”
Since the strike began during the spring semester, many of the 450,000 students enrolled in the system would not have been able to attend classes if faculty members had refused to work.
On Monday, a few students demonstrated their solidarity by joining the picket lines.
Gabriela Alvarez, a student at Cal State Long Beach, told the Associated Press that she participated in a protest outside her campus to show support for her instructors and opposition to planned tuition increases.
Alvarez stated, “We’re trying to lower tuition prices, we need more student resources here, and it’s important for our professors to be treated right.”
“If the tuition spikes go through, I won’t be able to afford next semester,” she continued.
To demand better wages, more manageable workloads, and greater parental leave, CFA members organized one-day walkouts on four campuses in December: Pomona, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
There has been a lot of labor movement in the nation over the past year as auto workers, Hollywood actors and writers, and health care professionals have pickedeted for better pay and working conditions.
New rules in California have given workers extra paid time off for sick days and higher pay for fast food and healthcare employees.
A month-long walkout by teaching assistants and graduate student employees in the University of California System in 2022 caused disruptions to classrooms as the autumn semester was coming to an end.
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