California State University (CSU) Reaches Tentative Contract Agreement with Faculty Membersthe first day that approximately 30,000 teachers, librarians, coaches and other workers went on strike at the nation's largest public university system, their union announced. Members of the California Teachers Association will return to work rather than continue their planned weeklong strike to demand higher wagesaccording to a statement from the association.
The agreement, which still must be ratified by union members, “reflects the solidarity demonstrated by faculty, staff and students across all 23 campuses,” the association's statement stated. “To all the hard-working teachers who have been organizing in the streets and on campus, your efforts have achieved this victory“.
“I am extremely pleased and deeply grateful that we have reached an understanding with the California Teachers Association that will end the strike immediately,” the statement said. “The agreement allows CSU to fairly compensate its valued and world-renowned faculty while protecting the long-term financial sustainability of the university system.”
The systemwide strike came two weeks after CSU officials ended negotiations contracts with a unilateral offer that began with a 5% salary increase this year, effective January 31, well below the 12% increase sought by the union. The tentative agreement proposes a 5% pay increase retroactive to last year and another 5% increase on July 1. It also increases the minimum salary for the lowest-paid faculty, according to the union statement.
California teachers' strike coincided with the start of the semester at CSU
The strike occurred at the beginning of the new CSU semester, and classes for many of the system's 450,000 students could have been canceled if teachers refused to cross picket lines. The California Teachers Association represents approximately 29,000 workers. Another 1,100 CSU skilled workers, such as plumbers, electricians and others represented by Teamsters Local 2010, were set to join the strike, but reached an agreement with the university last Friday.
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Some students They joined the picket lines on Monday to show their support. In December, CFA members held one-day walkouts at four campuses in Los Angeles, Pomona, Sacramento and San Francisco to push for higher wages, more manageable workloads and an increase in parental leave.
The union asserted that the university has money in its “slack reserve accounts” and could afford the salary increases with funds from operating cash surpluses and the $766,000,000 CSU has in emergency reserves.
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