Faculty members at California State University (CSU) campuses have embarked on a series of one-day strikes. This collective action comes after months of tensions between the California Faculty Association, representing 29,000 educators and university management regarding wage and benefit demands.

The union of professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches is pushing for a 12 percent raise this academic year to counter recent spikes in inflation. Additionally, they seek extended parental leave, increased hiring of therapists and the establishment of new baseline wages for the lowest-paid educators. The union’s president, Charles Toombs, emphasized the importance of working conditions that allow faculty members to afford living expenses and maintain reasonable class sizes.

“It is really important to pay attention to why [the California Faculty Association] is protesting,” senior Savannah Wald said. “I think protesting is a great way to get their message across, as their demands are important.”

Many UHS students support the call for higher wages in these faculty strikes.

“I think that the faculty protesting shows how important the subject wages are and I agree with their stance,” junior Moises Ramirez said. 

However, the CSU system, the nation’s largest four-year public university system with over 450,000 students, argues that it cannot afford the proposed raises. The university leadership has offered a five percent raise in pay this academic year followed by five percent increases in the next two years, contingent on increased state support. This proposal is subject to Governor Gavin Newsom fulfilling his promise of a five percent increase in state support for each of those two years.

The strike reflects the ongoing struggle between educators and the university administrations. If their demands remain unmet, the union vows to escalate these work stoppages early next year. Elected officials and candidates for state assembly offices joined the Cal Poly Pomona rally, expressing support for the faculty’s cause.

The situation remains tense and the outcome of negotiations will likely shape the future landscapes of CSU campuses.

ADDENDUM From Inside Higher Ed:

By the end of the day, the union had called for the strike’s end. In a news release sent around 10 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the union announced a tentative agreement with CSU that wouldn’t meet the union’s salary demand, but would provide 10 weeks of paid parental leave, up from six, along with other wins. The union said members would vote on the deal “in the coming weeks.”

“The collective action of so many lecturers, professors, counselors, librarians, and coaches over these last eight months forced CSU management to take our demands seriously,” Charles Toombs, president of the faculty association, said in the news release. “This tentative agreement makes major gains for all faculty at the CSU.”