The California Faculty Association reached a tentative agreement over contract negotiations with the California State University system Oct. 15 Though not set in stone, the agreement is a step closer to a finalized contract.
The agreement came shortly after the CFA held a week of action at campuses across the state earlier this month. According to SF State CFA chapter president Sheila Tully, the agreement is directly related to the union’s demonstrations.
“The chancellor’s office made it very clear to the bargaining team that they didn’t want the bad press,” Tully said. “In many campuses—we didn’t get one that I am aware of—they sent out an email the day before the actions saying that we had a tentative agreement.”
According to the CFA’s Oct. 16 release, the proposed salary package addresses key issues the CFA raised during negotiations. The package aims to remedy inversion, when senior faculty members earn less than new hires and compression, which means similar salaries are given to faculty with unequal experience. If approved, faculty members will receive raises in the coming months.
The package will also make salary adjustments for tenure track faculty, faculty with three-year contracts and coaches with at least six years of service whose salaries are below the salary step increase maximum.
The CFA highlighted workload issues during negotiations and the tentative agreement is the first CSU proposal to include a workload relief program for faculty. The program is designed to alleviate senior faculty whose teaching loads qualify.
“For the union it is really significant that the chancellor’s office is recognizing that workload is an issue. It’s a big step,” said Tully.
The contract outlines salary increases for the next three years. CFA’s bargaining team plans to continue negotiations over salary increases for years two and three before finalizing the contract. While a ratification vote will solidify most of the contract, salary increases will be brought back to the bargaining table in May.
Specific details of the agreement will be published next week and the CFA bargaining team will travel to the 23 CSU campuses to address questions before a ratification vote by all CFA members. If the members’ vote approves the contract faculty could see a raise in salary as early as January 1.
“The executive board this weekend of statewide CFA voted unanimously to endorse the agreement and I will be recommending to the members on this campus that they ratify the tentative agreement,” Tully said. “As we move into spring we will be working on building power to get what we need for faculty at the bargaining table in May.”
