CSU faculty union authorizes a strike amid labor negotiations

Thousands of faculty said Wednesday that they will strike across California State University’s 23 campuses next semester if stalled labor negotiations fall apart.

A strike — the first in CSU history — would affect nearly 400,000 undergraduates and more than 55,000 graduate students.

Faculty leaders say the university has tilted its teaching force away from tenured professors so that 59 percent of instructors are now low-paid, nonpermanent “lecturers,” who earn less than $45,000 a year, on average.

Tenured professors and those on the tenure track typically earn in the mid- to high $80,000s — which they say is less than the $89,000 earned by tenured community college professors.

“We are ready to act if necessary and for as long as it takes,” said Jennifer Eagan, a tenured philosophy professor at Cal State East Bay and president of the California Faculty Association, whose members authorized a strike with a 94 percent vote.

“The result of the California Faculty Association strike vote is not unexpected,” said Toni Molle, CSU’s director of public affairs.

Similar authorizations were requested and approved by CFA members in prior CSU/CFA negotiations, and the strike authorization vote has now become a routine part of CFA’s post-impasse negotiation strategy.

Mediation talks between the university and the faculty broke down Oct. 8.

[...] a fact-finding panel — composed of a neutral person and a representative from each side — will meet in November and December before issuing its recommendations.

Wednesday’s announcement from the faculty means that if no agreement is reached even after that step is taken, thousands of students could find themselves with no one to teach their classes at some point next semester.

“If a strike does occur, the CSU will take the appropriate steps to keep students on their path to degree completion,” Molle said, noting that the university is intent on settling with faculty.

Lecturer Philip Klasky, who has a master’s degree, teaches American Indian studies at San Francisco State on a three-year contract.