Published 2012-04-24T20:37:00Z”/>

While faculty have been voting online since last week for a strike authorization over their contract, the faculty union and California State University will reopen talks in May.Aubrey Crosby

The California Faculty Association, which started voting for a fall strike authorization last week, expects support for the strike amid reopening of discussion with the California State University system.

The union will determine this week whether to give members the right to strike at the start of fall 2012.

If a majority of faculty members vote in favor of the strike authorization, CSU campuses could close for a few days at the beginning of the semester, said David Bradfield, CFA chapter president for Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The strike vote is taking place because of contract disagreements between the CSU and the CFA, said Mike Uhlenkamp, a spokesman for the CSU Chancellor’s Office.

Voting started at Chico State Monday, and the turnout has been great so far, said Susan Green, the statewide treasurer of the CFA.

“The faculty is very excited to exercise their opinion and right to vote,” Green said.

Online voting, which started last week at the 23 CSU campuses, has been popular among faculty members, she said.

Fresno State has seen a good turnout at its polls, said Lisa Weston, the Fresno State CFA chapter president.

“I am fairly sure we are going to get a vote in favor of the strike authorization,” Weston said.

As of Wednesday, up to 35 percent of Fresno State’s faculty voted at the polls, but the number is probably much higher, she said.

“We are doing a fairly good job, but most of our people are voting online,” Weston said. “We don’t get to see the online numbers until the vote is over.”

Of the 300 CFA members at Cal State San Marcos, 100 voted at the polls in the first two days, with a larger turnout expected online, said Don Barrett, president of the Cal State San Marcos chapter of the CFA.

A vote in favor of the strike is almost certain, said Jarret Lovell, Cal State Fullerton CFA chapter vice president.

“My belief is that when the votes are tallied, the Fullerton faculty will be united in favor of authorizing a strike vote,” Lovell said. “While we hope such an action will be avoidable, I believe our faculty clearly recognizes the need to communicate to the chancellor and the board of trustees that educators are a resource worth investing in and that we and our students have been neglected for too long. Simply put, our faculty are always standing up for quality education.”

Vince Ornelas, president of the Chico State chapter of the faculty union, said the CFA’s displeasure is with Reed.

“We have been in the negotiation process for about two years, and we are about two-thirds through the process,” Ornelas said.

When the CFA strike vote went live on campuses, the CSU announced it would reopen negotiations in May, he said. This will allow two negotiations for the same contract, leading to the possibility of a faster solution, and may leave out the possibility of a strike if a compromise is met.

“We view this as a positive development and the first most immediate impact of the vote,” Ornelas said.

The fact-finding stage, which allows the faculty union and CSU to present their arguments and evidence to a neutral party, will continue.

The reopening of negotiations will occur May 3 and 4 and is separate to include just representatives for the CFA and CSU, Uhlenkamp said.

“Both sides have indicated a desire to reach a negotiation agreement,” he said. “We both agreed to continue negotiating the contract while the process has been reopened. It’s taking two parallel paths.”

While the negotiation process will be reopened, Ornelas would rather see an “easy” end come from Reed or Zingg, he said.

“What we want is to have the chancellor tell his bargaining team to find a final and peaceful ending with us,” Ornelas said. “Zingg could also just as easily pick up his phone, call the other presidents and find a quick ending to negotiations.”

The faculty union is trying to gain student support by asking them to sign a petition in favor of Gov. Jerry Brown’s revenue initiative, which would raise California sales tax by half a cent to raise money for higher education.

“Students are in a place where their education is being compromised, and they understand this,” Ornelas said. “They have been involved and supportive through the whole process so far because they can see the quality of their education eroding in front of them.”

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<strong>Aubrey Crosby can be reached at</strong>

<em>[email protected]</em>