The California Faculty Association announced they might go on strike in December if they are unable to reach a contract agreement with California State University management.
The CFA Board of Directors unanimously voted to call for a strike “over CSU management’s failure to settle re-opener contract negotiations fairly,” the CSU said.
CFA members voted with a 95% majority to strike. These results were released on Oct. 30.
These four universities are expected to do one-day strikes:
- Cal Poly Pomona — Dec. 4
- San Francisco State — Dec. 5
- CSU Los Angeles — Dec. 6
- Sacramento State — Dec. 7
It is unknown if Chico State faculty members will strike in December.
“We will not strike alone. We all picked four campuses to wake the Chancellor’s Office up,” Chico State lecturer and CFA Chico chapter president, Timothy Sistrunk, said. “If we need to do more job actions, we will have to figure that out in the future. We can do job actions next year if needed.”
Faculty members can only strike once the statutory process has ended. The fact-finding session ended on Oct. 26, but both sides are waiting on the panel’s report. It could be weeks until it is released.
There will be a 10-day fact-finding blackout period after the report is ready and before it’s released to the two organizations. During this time neither side can advocate but they can “try to settle the agreement without resorting to public pressure,” according to the CFA.
The CFA said if these strikes do not convince CSU management to “settle with us fairly,” there will be more strikes in the spring.
“Members at campuses not listed can show solidarity with regional colleagues by joining the picket lines on days they are not scheduled to teach,” the CFA said.
Faculty members have one personal day a year and CFA members can choose to take this time to join colleagues at a participating university, according to the CFA.
“We recognize the need to join together and fight CSU management’s disinvestment for the people who are directly responsible for student learning and success,” the CFA said.
In response to the CFA’s possible December strikes, the CSU said:
“The CSU remains committed to the collective bargaining process and reaching a negotiated agreement with the CFA, as we have done with five of our other employee unions in recent weeks.”
The CSU also said that if a strike takes place all CSU universities will stay open and have contingency plans to “maintain university operations with as minimal disruption as possible for students, faculty, staff, and visitors to our campuses.”
To read more about the possible strikes, go here.
Ariana Powell can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
