By Josh Dulaney,
Long Beach Press Telegram
01/19/16, 12:53 PM PST
A powerful labor coalition has thrown its support behind Cal State University faculty, saying they won’t cross picket lines if professors strike in the spring.
“If they go on strike, the mail ain’t getting delivered, the trash ain’t getting picked up,” said Rusty Hicks, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which has 800,000 members.
Hicks and members of the union made the announcement Tuesday at Cal State Los Angeles alongside members of the California Faculty Association.
CFA and the Long Beach-based Chancellor’s Office have reached an impasse on pay for 2015-16, with CSU offering a 2 percent increase, and the faculty union — which represents more than 26,000 tenured and tenure-track faculty, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches — seeking a 5 percent pay boost.
The union has voted to strike if the university does not bend to its demand for a 5 percent raise.
Management says a 2 percent pay increase would cost $33 million, but the union’s 5 percent demand, which includes an additional 2.65 percent service increase for eligible professors, would cost $102.3 million. They say “me-too” clauses that would trigger similar increases for other unions would cost another $37.9 million.
The two sides started bargaining in May, and have taken part in fact-finding sessions, with a three-person panel reviewing offers and counter-offers.
CFA authorized a strike in the fall. The faculty union has held walkouts in the past. CFA held a one-day walkout in November 2011 at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson and at Cal State East Bay.
A strike likely won’t happen for at least six weeks as the fact-finding process winds down. In the meantime, the CFA is drumming up support for a potential strike among labor councils across the state.
“They’ve granted us strong solidarity,” said CFA President Jennifer Eagan, about the L.A. County Federation of Labor’s support. “They’ve heard our case. They think we’re right, and they’re going to stand with us if we strike.”
A few dozen faculty members and students then rallied in the University Student Union building.
A spokeswoman for the Chancellor’s Office said management remains committed to the bargaining process.
“A strike is not in the best interest of the students,” Laurie Wiedner said.
Eagan said CSU professors are angry.
“Chancellor White and the trustees need to show leadership and honor faculty work,” she said.
Timothy P. White, chancellor of the 23-campus system, visited the campus Tuesday, to meet with administration, faculty and students. He spoke during an open meeting that lasted an hour in a ballroom. After about 15 minutes of introductory remarks in which he praised CSULA accomplishments and discussed a vision for the university system going forward, White fielded questions from some among the hundreds in attendance.
The first question was from a faculty member, about pay raises, which set the tone for a session that bubbled with boos and mockery, with White calmly perched on a stage up front.
White said that against his “naysayers” he is doing what he can to secure permanent funding “to raise the compensation of our faculty,” but with the bargaining process unsolved, “I will not comment on the status of those discussions.”
In return, faculty members stood up and turned their backs on him.
One professor yelled to White that he makes over $400,000 and “we can’t even eat.”
Denise F. “Penni” Wilson, of the Department of Pan-African Studies at CSULA, told White to keep in mind the struggle of Martin Luther King Jr.
“You talked about sustainability,” Wilson said. “I can’t even sustain my life, sir. And I give my students my heart.”
No comments:
Post a Comment