While this past Monday the 24,000 employees of the California Faculty Association (CFA) were asked to vote on the possibility of an upcoming strike following the 22 months of stalemate negotiations, it seems like the union and its opposite party — the Chancellor’s Office, who represents the California State University (CSU) system — are returning to the bargaining tables.
The CSU is facing a tumultuous era, having lost almost a billion dollars in state funding since 2008, skyrocketing tuition rates and slashing faculty and admissions. The union, whose three-year contract expired in June of 2010, proposed the vote for the strike following its April 6th meeting when a mediator felt that the two-year battle had come to an end and called for a fact-finder to be appointed.
This fact-finder will hear both sides and make a proposal, ultimately leaving it up to the CSU as to whether that proposal will be accepted or rejected. If rejected, the union could ultimately go on strike, hence the vote. Voting began at Cal State Long Beach, along with San Francisco State, Sacramento State, Fresno State, and Sonoma state; the other 18 CSU campuses have until April 27 to vote.
The bargaining is expected to begin in early May. According to CSU Spokesperson Stephanie Thara, “At this point in the negotiations there are a limited number of issues that remain in dispute. Both parties have expressed a desire to reach a negotiated settlement and CSU, for its part, remains committed to that goal.”