California State University Workers Union Begins First Of Planned One-Day Strikes

The California Faculty Association (CFA), a union comprising around 29,000 professors, librarians, coaches, and other employee in the California State University (CSU) System, began the first of a planned 4 one-day strikes on Monday over demands of better pay, better working conditions, and increased benefits.

In the last few years, many high-profile strikes have occurred in California, including the massive Hollywood strikes earlier this year. Within the education system strikes have also been plentiful, with many K-12 districts such as Los Angeles and Oakland having some sort of strike action in the past few years, as well as the large University of California student worker faculty strike in 2022. The UC strike, which lasted from November 14, 2022 to December 19, 2022, was particularly notable because of the chaos it brought to campuses just before winter break and because of the large 55% over two and a half years pay raises that teaching assistants and researchers won through the United Auto Workers union.

Earlier this year, CSU workers began talks of a strike following years of complaining about financial hardships. Over the summer, the CFA began negotiating a new contract with CSU, hoping to avoid yet another strike in the state. CSU faculty, who are currently paid on average $99,000 for full-time work,$67,000 for part-time work, and just above $50,000 for lecturers, asked for a 12% across-the-board raise. CSU countered with a 5% raise. By August, both sides stopped talking because of a lack of progress, inviting in an independent arbiter.

Demands soon became solidified. In addition to the 12% raise, the CFA demanded an additional parental leave increase from six weeks to a full semester, more gender-inclusive bathrooms, pay equity, more manageable work loads, more mental health counselors, and more lactating facilities for faculty with babies. Despite CSU still showing willingness to talk with the union over the issues, the CFA, with members at all 23 CSU campuses across the state, voted on authorizing a strike in late October.

With a strike now set in place, the CFA opted for an initial rotating series of one day strikes last month rather than a total strike at all 23 campuses. The first one of these strikes occurred on Monday at Cal Poly Pomona. Other strikes were announced throughout the week, including San Francisco State on Tuesday, CSU Los Angeles on Wednesday, and Sacramento State on Thursday.

WE ARE ON STRIKE! Thousands of California university faculty are on strike to win a union contract that benefits all @calstate faculty. We demand dignity, equity, and justice. Huelga! #CFAFacultyRising #SolidaritySeason pic.twitter.com/evwtG3zmzN

— California Faculty Association (@CFA_United) December 4, 2023

“We know management can afford our proposals. They can afford to provide fair compensation and safe working conditions,” said CFA Sacramento chapter president Anne Luna on Monday. “It’s time to stop funneling tuition and taxpayer money into a top-heavy administration. It’s time to put the money where it belongs, to support the faculty and students of the CSU.

“Rent, childcare, groceries and the costs of basic necessities have gone up by double digits over the past few years. Our faculty are some of the lowest-paid educators in the state. They desperately need a lifeline.”

In addition, Luna added that an independent auditor said a 12% raise would be “workable” for CSU.

A 12% raise sticking point

CSU has responded that the system just cannot afford to pay the higher wages and meet all their demands. According to CSU, the cost of all the demands would be $380 million in recurring spending. The 2023-2024 CSU year only has $230 million earmarked for increased spending, meaning that they would need to somehow get another $150 million this year. They had also previously countered with a 5% raise in negotiations earlier this year, but that was rejected by the union.

“CSU strives to provide fair, competitive pay and benefits for all of our employees,” added CSU Vice Chancellor Leora Freedman in a statement. “We recognize the need to increase compensation and are committed to doing so, but our financial commitments must be fiscally sustainable.

“We respect the right of our labor unions to engage in strike activities, and we are prepared to minimize any disruptions to our campuses. Our hope is that the planned strike activities pose no hardships on our students and that we can get back to the bargaining table as soon as possible with the CFA to come to an agreement.”

Experts noted on Monday that CSU has been the only side actually negotiating in prior talks, and that the unions hard-line stance may not work as compared to previous strikes this year where compromises were reached.

“The union has been stuck at that 12% figure the entire year,” said John Waithe, a Chicago-based higher education researcher, to the Globe on Monday. “Look where they were in July. 12%. They have dropped a few of the benefit demands, but that’s it. They are not willing to be reasonable about moving the 12% down.

“CSU has been very open about finances and has offered a raise that their budget is allowing for. This is why there hasn’t been a lot of traction or shows of solidarity. Management is actually being reasonable. With a bunch of other strikes this year, yeah, there were big arguments to be made on both sides. Auto workers wanted pay to go back to pre-COVID levels and a little then-some. Hollywood writers wanted better job security and pay from streaming shows and AI protections.

“Say what you will about those, but the other side had the money to work with them on and compromise deals were eventually reached. CSU does not have the luxury. They have a finite amount of money. And yes, some teachers and other staff are no doubt having a rough financial time right now. It’s everywhere. But they are asking for money that the University does not have.

“Hopefully there will be a compromise here. And, in all likelihood, it will come down to just about the amount the University said it had set aside for this year without going over budget, and then press the state for more money next budget year. Neither side really wants a long, protracted strike.”

More on talks between CSU and the CFA are expected soon, with the one-day strikes expected to continue until Thursday.