Because their contract negotiations with the Cal State University fell apart, the California Faculty Association started voting Monday to authorize a rolling faculty strike on the 23 CSU campuses.
The strike would shut down classrooms for two days on every CSU campus, but the campuses would strike on different dates, according to CFA President Lilian Taiz.
“I actually wouldn’t like to strike,” Cal State Long Beach English professor Neil Hultgren said. “I would like everything to be settled without a strike … but we are showing preparation if it is necessary.”
The voting took place at each CSU campus and will continue until Friday, April 27. CFA set up a voting booth for CSULB faculty inside the University Student Union.
CFA and CSU have been in contract negotiations for more than 18 months.
“It’s been grueling, and it’s been demoralizing,” Taiz said. “[CSU] put something on the table, and we said to the mediator we don’t understand some parts of it.”
In mediation sessions, a neutral third party – the mediator – attempted to help CSU and CFA come to an agreement.
However, when CFA asked to speak directly with CSU, and CSU refused, the mediator pushed negotiations to the next step of fact-finding, according to Taiz.
Fact-finding is the last stage of the negotiation process. If the two groups still do not come to an agreement through this step, CFA would have the ability to call a strike.
“The chancellor doesn’t think we will strike,” Deborah Hamm, a CSULB teacher education professor, said. “It seems the only way to get his attention is public pressure.”
The strike vote is one of many public events taking place this week on college campuses across the country as part of the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE).
A project supported by 59 local and national organizations, the campaign “injects the faculty voice into the national discussion over our country’s higher education policies – a discussion that has been dominated by executives and consultants,” according to a press release from the campaign.
“It started because of a lot of huge things going on across the country,” CFA Communications Director Alice Sunshine said.
Sunshine said many universities in other states are facing the same issues as the CSU, such as a trend of cutting enrollment and student fee hikes.
The campaign works on the basis of seven principles, such as making higher education more affordable for students and maintaining broad and diverse curriculum in public universities.
“We don’t want to just complain about things,” Sunshine said. “We want to offer a change.”
CFA’s strike vote kicked off the week of public events that CFHE will be hosting across the country. Other events include a protest march in Minnesota and a petition drive in New York.
Taiz said the date of the strike remains unclear, but it would most likely take place this fall.
“It’s a small sacrifice that would create much good,” Hultgren said. “In comparison, it wouldn’t damage the students as much as the chancellor’s proposals.”
“We think it’s a teachable moment,” Taiz said.