Students will be returning to class at 14 California State Universities Monday, though they may not find their instructors there. After months of failed bargaining, faculty members are planning to start a five-day strike.
“As far as I know, and my colleagues are aware, yes,” said Jeff Newcomb, the president of the California Faculty Association East Bay Chapter, speaking about the strike. “It is going to happen. … I must tell you that we do not want to strike. This is not something that is planned as something we want to do, but we are in many ways compelled to do so.”
The broader California Faculty Association is a union representing thousands of professors, lecturers, librarians and others across CSU campus. The strike follows months of negotiations, where the union was seeking a 12% pay increase.
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“It is a number that reflects the rates of inflation over the last several years and simply keeping pace with that level of inflation to date,” Newcomb said. “In addition, we are looking for equitable work loads for faculty. We are looking for a baseline increase for our most disadvantaged faculty.”
In a virtual news conference Friday, the CSU’s Chancellor’s Office said that demand was not reasonable and virtually impossible to meet.
“We would have to make severe cuts to programs. We would have to lay off employees. This would jeopardize our educational mission and cause a hardship to many employees,” said CSU Vice Chancellor Leora Freedman.
The CSU system said it is providing a general salary increase of 5% each year over three years.
At Cal State East Bay, where Newcomb is a lecturer, classes have already resumed. Other campuses are set to start Monday, with a few starting later than that.
The CSU system said that campuses will be open during the strike and student services would still be provided. Students should check with instructors to see if a class is canceled.
“My hope is that we resolve this difficult situation for a public institution, for a public university,” Newcomb said. “There is an extraordinary interest in bringing faculty and management together on one page, because we are both in service of students.”
