California State University officials are unilaterally raising faculty salaries by 5%, rejecting demands for much larger raises and ending contract negotiations with the faculty union, a move that has intensified labor disputes over the years. as a week-long, system-wide strike approaches.
The salary increase that takes effect Jan. 31 falls short of the 12% increase for the 2023-24 academic year sought by the California Colleges Association, which represents professors, lecturers, counselors, librarians and coaches. University officials said Tuesday that the union’s salary demands were not financially viable and would have resulted in layoffs and other cuts.
“With this action, we will ensure that well-deserved raises reach our teachers as soon as possible,” Leora Freedman, vice chancellor for human resources, said in a statement. “We have been in the negotiation process for eight months and the CLS has not shown any movement, so it leaves us no choice.”
Charles Toombs, president of the California Faculty Association, criticized the university’s decision to end contract negotiations.
“CSU leadership expressed nothing but disdain for the professors,” he said in a statement. “The CSU administration has never taken seriously our proposals for a desperately needed equitable transformation for CSU students, faculty and staff.”
The pay divide had peaked in recent weeks, when professors held one-day walkouts on four campuses in early December to express their displeasure with the university system’s salary proposals. A weeklong strike is planned at all 23 campuses in the system starting Jan. 22, which marks the start of the spring semester for most students.
The CSU and the teachers union participated in the so-called reopening negotiation, in which parts of the existing contract can be negotiated before it expires in June. Bargaining sessions were scheduled for this week, but university leaders imposed their final offer during a session Tuesday, according to the union.
Toombs said the union, which represents 29,000 workers, had planned to “negotiate in good faith” and explore a solution that could avoid a strike. Instead, he said, they were met with “lack of respect from management.”
“The imposition of the leadership leaves us no choice but to move forward with our system-wide strike plan,” he said.
Before Tuesday’s session, the parties had reached a dead end, meaning they couldn’t reach an agreement on their own. This prompted a report by an independent investigator, which recommended that the parties agree to a 7% increase.
Having exhausted the negotiation process without reaching an agreement, the system was allowed to impose a final offer during the negotiation. Faculty members may strike to protest the system’s decision, although the union has not yet said whether they will extend this month’s planned strike beyond a week.
Throughout the negotiations, union leaders have asked the CSU to use money from its reserves to pay the increases, accusing the system of “accumulating billions of dollars in reserves instead of investing in teachers and staff.” An Eastern Michigan University professor tasked by the union with conducting a financial analysis of the CSU concluded that the system is “in a very strong financial position” with “a high level of reserves.”
But university officials have disputed the union’s conclusions, maintaining that they need to maintain reserves to pay for emergency or short-term expenses. They also said some of the money the union says is part of the university’s reserves cannot be used to pay salaries.
“We are committed to paying fair and competitive salaries and benefits to our teaching workers, who provide instruction to our students every day and are the cornerstone of our university system,” Freedman said. “But we must also operate within our means to protect the long-term success and stability of the university, our students and our faculty.”
Freedman noted that the 5% increase aligns with raises given to unions representing other CSU workers.
In addition to the across-the-board raises, the union had also sought to raise the minimum wage for its lowest-paid workers from $54,360 to $64,360. During the one-day strikes last month, professors said they live in financial precariousness, with many having to teach classes on multiple campuses or go into debt to pay for basic living expenses.
The faculty association also sought other improvements, including limits on class sizes, an expansion of paid parental leave to a full semester, accessible lactation rooms, and gender-inclusive bathrooms and locker rooms.
The CSU move is unlikely to end disagreements over salaries. With the current contract set to expire in June, both sides will likely begin negotiations on the next contract in the coming weeks or months.
