After one day in a planned five-day systemwide strike, the California Faculty Association (CFA) and California State University (CSU) management have come to a tentative agreement.
In a press release put out by the CFA following the agreement, some of the terms that CSU has agreed to are “5-percent General Salary Increase for all faculty on July 1 in 2024” alongside a “5-percent General Salary Increase for all faculty retroactive to July 1, 2023”.
This agreement also includes a salary increase for some of the lowest paid CSU faculty members, according to the press release. A “$3,000 increase in the minimum pay for [salary] Ranges A and B retroactive to July 1, 2023; additional $3,000 increase in the minimum pay for Range A on July 1, 2024.”
Some of the other highlighted terms mentioned in the press release include a Service Step Increase of 2.65% for the 2024-25 school year, paid parental leave increased to ten weeks from six, and an extension of CFA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement Contract for 2022-2024 until June 30th, 2025.
The CSU also issued a press release following the tentative agreement, with Chancellor Mildred García expressing her relief.
“The agreement enables the CSU to fairly compensate its valued, world-class faculty while protecting the university system’s long-term financial sustainability,” Garcia said. “With the agreement in place, I look forward to advancing our student-centered work — together — as the nation’s greatest driver of social mobility and the pipeline fueling California’s diverse and educated workforce.”
According to the CFA’s Strike FAQ page, the strike occurred after months of bargaining with the CSU over a 12% salary increase for all faculty, alongside paid leave, health and safety concerns, fell through. Many of these goals were a part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement Contract (specifically articles 20, 23, 31 and 37, according to CFA President Charles Toombs’ opening statement in the CFA’s 2023-2024 pocket calendar).
The CSU initially offered a 5% general salary increase to “instructional faculty, librarians, counselors and coaches”, which was supposed to go into effect on January 31, 2024, but this was rejected by the CFA.
On the Strike FAQ page, it is noted that the CFA did not accept this because “CSU management has refused to address pay for the lowest compensated faculty, refused all workload proposals, refused to address expanding parental leave, and refused to address faculty safety on campus.”
CFA members will be voting as to whether or not they will ratify the tentative agreement within the coming weeks, according to their press release, but expect the faculty to return to work as of January 23, 2024.
