The California Faculty Association will be discussing and voting on a tentative agreement during the Nov. 7-8 meeting with the CSU Board of Trustees.
This agreement would secure the benefits won for CSU employees during the 2016 Fight for Five and make sure that there are no takeaways or changes, because of inflation or any other hurdle, that could force a change in the current “status quo” for employee benefits.
“We often don’t see eye to eye with the CSU,” said Jennifer Eagan, professor of philosophy at Cal State East Bay and CFA Statewide President. Eagan is in the process of getting a two-year extension. “But they often do respond when other people in power tell them that this is a good idea and that other people would like the CSU to be quiet in that way for a couple of years as well.”
On Oct. 3 there was a meeting held for current CFA members at Chico State and Eagan along with David Bradfield, a CFA representative from CSU Dominguez Hills, gave a wonderful presentation on the agreement that members will be voting on next month.
Throughout the meeting, Eagan and others who have been a part of the CFA program discussed how they felt about the way the tentative agreement will be reviewed by management, the benefits each would be receiving and the work that needs to be done for future benefit security.
They knew that getting the two-year extension to Jun. 30, 2020 was important in order to give the CFA time to come up with a plan for when they completely reevaluate the contract at the end of the extension, as stated by Eagan at the meeting.
This tentative agreement, along with protecting the current retiree health and employee health benefits, adds a revised salary structure that involves reliable raises. This means when the employees are hired they will have an idea of when they will get a raise and gives them a salary increase agenda. Those who are already working for a CSU school will also get an idea of when raises will happen.
Ultimately, there is going to be an overall 6 percent salary increase starting with a 3.5 percent by November 1, 2018, and then followed by a 2.5 percent increase effective as of July 1, 2019.
Along with the health care staying the same, the Faculty Early Retirement program will also remain untouched during the next two years.
The CFA is not taking a break during these two years, they are working on ways to increase tenure density, attempting to increase the current 40 percent average, in the CSUs and want to look into it internally for future meetings with CFA management.
“I think this is a time to pause and think about some more longer-term structural changes. We are bargaining for our contract it changes some things for three years and you know that is what we are doing,” said Eagan on the future after June 2020 and the struggles that still lay ahead for the group. “But we know that our problems are way bigger than things you can solve in a collective bargaining agreement.”
Hannah Yeager can be reached at the [email protected] or @theorion_news.
