{"id":29562,"date":"2023-11-01T14:47:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T21:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=29562"},"modified":"2023-11-01T14:47:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T21:47:54","slug":"california-state-university-faculty-union-votes-95-to-sanction-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/01\/california-state-university-faculty-union-votes-95-to-sanction-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"California State University faculty union votes 95% to sanction strike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" by\u00a0JOE RIVANO BARROS<\/a><\/strong> OCTOBER 30, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A group of faculty and students marching on San Francisco State University campus on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. Photo by Joe Rivano Barros.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The faculty union representing professors and lecturers at San Francisco State University and other California State schools has voted to authorize a strike if it cannot reach a deal with management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vote \u2014 called by the California Faculty Association<\/a>, which represents some 29,000 professors, lecturers, coaches and other faculty across the state \u2014 authorizes the union to call for a state-wide strike in the future, but does not guarantee it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vote showed 95 percent of voting members across all 23 campuses were in favor of the measure. The union did not disclose how many members actually voted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCal State voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, if necessary,\u201d said Charles Toombs<\/a>, a professor of Africana Studies at San Diego State University and the union\u2019s president, during a virtual press conference Monday. \u201cMembers are emphatic that low pay, growing workloads, and systematic inequalities are not sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subscribe to our daily newsletter<\/strong> and have the latest stories from Mission Local delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The issue is, chiefly, pay. During the summer, the union pushed for 12 percent across-the-board increases this fiscal year, but California State University management countered with 5 percent raises. The system\u2019s interim chancellor, Jolene Koester, wrote<\/a> that the salary demand from the union was \u201cunreasonable because it would grossly undermine the CSU\u2019s fiscal stability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koester will be paid $983,000 this year<\/a>, including housing and other stipends, in line with the six-figure salaries of university presidents and other executives<\/a> across the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSU faculty, by contrast, are paid<\/a> an average of $99,386 if they work-full time and $67,136 if they work part-time \u2014 which most faculty at CSUs do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAN FRANCISCO STATE STAFF CUTS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"San<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco State University facing mass staffing cuts<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by JOE RIVANO BARROS<\/a><\/strong>SEPTEMBER 29, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lecturers, the lowest-paid CSU faculty members, who make up around 60 percent of the teaching staff across the state, have a starting pay<\/a> of $54,360 if working full-time, a salary that increases slowly, and is insufficient for living in costly cities like San Francisco, according to Brad Erickson, the president of the California Faculty Association\u2019s chapter at San Francisco State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe lecturer faculty in the CSU are some of the worst-paid educators in the state \u2014 the starting pay is very low, and it\u2019s a very long process to move up the salary schedule,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negotiations reached an \u201cimpasse\u201d in August, meaning the two parties stopped holding formal talks because progress was limited. An independent arbiter has been appointed to review both the union\u2019s and management\u2019s offers to determine their feasibility, and will issue a report outlining their findings in the coming weeks, the faculty union said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco State has 1,084 lecturers, staff who usually work part-time, cobbling together classes to fill out their schedules. They are facing the prospect of mass staffing cuts<\/a> come the spring, when some 300 lecturers will lose all their classes and another 600 will lose some, according to the faculty union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The California State University management, for its part, said the results were \u201cnot unexpected,\u201d and that such strike votes have \u201cbecome a routine part of [the union\u2019s] post-impasse negotiation strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d said Hazel Kelly, a spokesperson for the CSU system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California State faculty members have never engaged in a system-wide strike, the faculty union said during the press conference. It did threaten a strike in 2016, until negotiations led to a satisfactory contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE EDUCATION NEWS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"SF<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SF State faculty rally for contract during week-long strike vote<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by JOE RIVANO BARROS<\/a><\/strong>OCTOBER 26, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SF<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SF teachers, district reach deal after all-night bargaining session \u2014 strike averted<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong>OCTOBER 20, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mission<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mission students walk out over Gaza attacks, Ronen calls for immediate cease-fire<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by KELLY WALDRON<\/a><\/strong>OCTOBER 18, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JOE RIVANO BARROSSENIOR EDITOR<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

joe.rivanobarros@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe was born in Sweden, where the Chilean half of his family received asylum after fleeing Pinochet, and spent his early childhood in Chile; he moved to Oakland when he was eight. He attended Stanford University for political science and worked at Mission Local as a reporter after graduating. He then spent time in advocacy as a partner for the strategic communications firm The Worker Agency. He rejoined Mission Local as an editor in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0JOE RIVANO BARROS OCTOBER 30, 2023 The faculty union representing professors and lecturers at San Francisco State University and other California State schools has voted to authorize a strike if it cannot reach a deal with management.  The vote \u2014 called by the California Faculty Association, which represents some 29,000 professors,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1298],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29563,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29562\/revisions\/29563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}