What's at stake?
The faculty union has been seeking pay raises among other benefits.
The California State University faculty union cheered a tentative deal late Monday with the nation’s largest university system, ending plans for a weeklong strike after a single day.
The deal comes with a retroactive 5% salary increase to July 2023 and another 5% increase after July 2024 contingent on the state not reducing its base funding to the CSU, according to a media release from the California Faculty Association.
The agreement also raises the salary floor for the lowest paid faculty from just under $55,000 to over $60,000 retroactive to July 2023, according to a post from CFA.
“That is really important, and something that needed to be done,” said Andrew Jones, vice president of Fresno State’s CFA chapter, in an interview Tuesday. “I mean, it’s not enough, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
The deal also grants new parents a longer period of paid leave, extending it from six to 10 weeks.
CSU Chancellor Mildred García applauded the agreement in a media release Monday night, saying it “enables the CSU to fairly compensate its valued, world-class faculty while protecting the university system’s long-term financial sustainability.”
The union representing some 29,000 workers sought 12% raises and semester-long parental leave. They were bargaining over reopeners on year three of a contract set to expire in June, though the tentative deal also extends the contract an additional year through 2025.
Union demands this bargaining cycle also included hiring more counselors and building more gender-inclusive campus restrooms and lactation spaces.
The deal wasn’t without disappointments for members of the faculty union, particularly around salary and hiring more mental health counselors.
“A lot of people are very disappointed that we did not continue to fight for the 12% and instead accepted five,” Jones said.
The tentative agreement doesn’t feature language about adding counselors either, which was another letdown, he said.
He added that the bargaining team members that met with the CSU on Monday figured the union’s “power was at its peak” on day one of the work stoppage and wanted to “strike while the iron was hot.”
CFA members still need to vote whether to approve the agreement, a process likely weeks away, Jones said.
“It’s an iterative process,” he said. “What we’ve got now is something to build on for the next full contract negotiations that will happen in 2025.”
About 40 Fresno State students joined the faculty picket line during the rainy Monday morning that turned out to be the strike’s only day amid reports of widespread class cancellations.
The CSU encouraged students to keep an eye out for messages from their instructors on upcoming classes now that a deal had been reached in Monday’s media release.
This deal comes the same week that another set of workers – this time, student assistants at the CSU – are set to begin voting on whether to unionize. Voting begins online Thursday and will continue through Feb. 22, according to a social media post from the CSU Student Workers Union organizers.
