The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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CSU faculty salary remains at 2007 levels

Faculty at University of California campuses will receive a raise in October, but CSU faculty are still at 2007 compensation levels.

While UC faculty receive a raise every three years, the 3 percent raise for CSU faculty, approved in 2008, was halted by budget cuts.

An agreement between the California Faculty Association (CFA) and the CSU stipulates a general salary increase is dependant on funding from the contract, said Elizabeth Chapin, spokeswoman for the chancellor’s office.

Because the funding from the contract was dependant on the state budget, which dropped drastically in 2007, there wasn’t enough funding for the raises, Chapin added.

“We feel the professors need the increase and it’s about time, but it’s dependant on the funding,” Chapin said.

Wei Ming Dariotis, CFA president at CSU San Francisco, is skeptical of the potential increase.

“We are still waiting on the salary increase of 2008,” Dariotis said. “The track record is not a good one and we don’t have much evidence to support the idea that the administration can actually come through on (the raises).”

With UC system raises coming soon, Ivor Wagner, vice president of the tenure track faculty of the CFA at CSUN, said CSU Chancellor Charles Reed’s bargaining team is doing a poor job.

“I don’t see how Reed could argue it’s a bad time for raises when the UC system are getting raises,” Wagner said. “How difficult is it to find one percent for the whole CSU system?”

CSUN’s CFA chapter president Nate Thomas said while the economy may not allow for extra money, he questions Reed’s use of it.

“Folks know the status of the economy,” Thomas said.  “If there is a budget crisis it seems insensitive if we ask for raises, but I definitely don’t want to see him giving other administrators raises.”

After students’ tuition was raised an addition 12 percent over the summer, CSU presidents’ salaries were also raised,  Thomas said.

“In the case that the raise didn’t happen, it would be reopened for bargaining,” Chapin said. “So the raise is now back in negotiation.”

One-third of UC academic faculty receive a performance evaluation every year, and faculty who receive a positive review get a raise every three years, said Steve Montiel, spokesman for the UC president’s office.

The most recent UC general raise was in 2007, Montiel said.

A budget was approved last November which included provisions for raises for both academic and non-academic faculty in the UC system, he said. The faculty will receive their 3 percent raises on the first of October.

Raises are limited to staff making under $200,000 a year, Montiel said.  The non-academic staff increase varies.

“This raise is aiming to give chancellors a tool to maintain faculty who are given offers by other institutions,” he said.

For the 2012-2013 fiscal year, the CSU system has requested a 3 percent raise for employees.

“(The CSU and UC) are two different systems, but we are both state budgeted,” Thomas said.  “Other state agencies have (received) raises and found a way to manage people. We could have a lot of things if money was being managed properly.”

But Thomas said CSUN’s campus is being managed properly. This year CSUN hired about 100 full-time staff, the most in the state.

“Other campuses are envious of us,” Thomas said. “Even in a budget crisis, if managed properly, we can still use money properly.”

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