UPDATE | The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees officially ratified a contract for faculty today that will offer teachers within the statewide system a 10.5 percent pay raise over three years.

The decision follows yesterday’s vote by the CSU Collective Bargaining Committee in favor of ratification of the hotly negotiated salary contract for faculty.

“I am pleased the trustees ratified this agreement,” CSU Chancellor Timothy White said today. “Investing in our faculty is an investment in our students’ learning and discovery environment, enabling student achievement and degree completion.”

“This agreement is an important step toward normalizing salaries for public state university faculty,” CFA President Jennifer Eagan said. “CSU faculty are in the classrooms, facilitating student learning and achievement, which is the whole point of a public university. We must protect university teaching as a solid middle-class profession that lets us support our families
while we deliver high-quality education to our students.”

A reported 97 percent of union members who voted last month were in favor of the contract, according to union officials.

The tentative deal, announced last month, was reached after months of negotiations and just before a planned five-day strike was implemented by the CFA. It was a big win for faculty, who had been protesting the CSU’s reluctance to grant them a five percent General Salary Increase (GSI) for over a year now.

PREVIOUSLY: Long Beach-Based CSU Collective Bargaining Committee Approves Contested Contract for CSU Faculty

On 05/24/2016 at 2:00PM | A California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees committee unanimously approved the much-contested proposed contract to the CSU faculty statewide during a meeting today at its Long Beach headquarters, they announced. 

The contract offers faculty a 10.5 percent pay raise over three years. The full board will consider the proposal tomorrow, and is expected to also approve the contract, given the Collective Bargaining Committee’s vote in favor.

The deal was reached after months of negotiations and just before a planned five-day strike was implemented by the CFA. It was a big win for faculty, who had been protesting the CSU’s reluctance to grant them a five percent General Salary Increase (GSI) for over a year now.

“This agreement is an important step toward normalizing salaries for public state university faculty,” CFA President Jennifer Eagan said last month. “CSU faculty are in the classrooms, facilitating student learning and achievement, which is the whole point of a public university. We must protect university teaching as a solid middle-class profession that lets us support our families while we deliver high-quality education to our students.”

City News Service contributed to this report.

PREVIOUSLY: CSU Faculty Formally Approve Contract with Cal State University System

On 05/03/2016 at 5:53PM | The California Faculty Association formally approved the proposed contract with the California State University system that would give them 10.5 percent raises over the next three years, the union announced today.

The next step in the approval process of the deal, which was announced a month ago, is the approval by the CSU Board of Trustees. The board will consider formal agreement at its May 24-25 meeting. 


 

“This agreement is an important step toward normalizing salaries for public state university faculty,” CFA President Jennifer Eagan said. “CSU faculty are in the classrooms, facilitating student learning and achievement, which is the whole point of a public university. We must protect university teaching as a solid middle-class profession that lets us support our families while we deliver high-quality education to our students.”

Of the union members who voted, 97 percent cast ballots in favor of the proposal, according to the CFA.

The deal was reached after months of negotiations and just before a planned five-day strike was implemented by the CFA. It was a big win for faculty, who had been protesting the CSU’s reluctance to grant them a five percent General Salary Increase (GSI) for over a year now.


 

Last month, officials on both sides expressed relief that they were able to avert the planned five-day strike announced by CFA members fighting for the five percent GSI.

“The faculty spoke up for five percent and got it,” said CFA President Jennifer Eagen. She said the situation regarding faculty pay had become such a crisis, that “ordinarily mild-mannered” professors and lecturers were protesting in the streets with signs. “It was truly a reflection of the economic crisis we’re experiencing.”

“I’m absolutely delighted that we have reached an agreement with the CFA,” said California State University Chancellor Timothy White in a press conference this morning. “We both agree it’s great for students in so many ways.”

He went on to state that the fact-finding team in March found teachers were in fact paid “under market,” and that he got involved personally at the end of negotiations to show his concern for faculty and students. He cautioned that the CSU is still “underfunded relative to the state’s needs for the general population,” however, and that the funding would have to come from somewhere.

However, the fact that the increase is taking place over the next few years gives the university time to obtain more funding from the state (namely, “two budget cycles”) instead of programs toward which funding had already been allocated, according to White.

Click here for additional details on the deal. 

City News Service contributed to this report.