On April 16, Chancellor Charles B. Reed announced the CSU California Faculty Association, a union of 23,000 CSU professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches, failed to close the gap in a $7 million salary dispute.
Using the Law Offices of John Kagel as a neutral mediator, the two sides still could not come to an agreement.
At issue are three forms of compensation agreed to in a 2007 collective bargaining agreement, general salary increases, equity increases and service salary increases.
While assistant professors lectures, librarians, counselors, and coaches received their compensations in 2007, associate and full professors were to receive their increases in 2008.
Reed put a halt to pay increases for the fiscal year 2008-2009 in raises for associate and full professors.
The CSU says the raises are unwarranted in light of the current budget situation, but did not provide specific reasons for not paying the raises.
The Kagel report says the service salary increases and equity increases should be paid. “Given the relatively slight overall cost involved even in tough economic times.”
Co-President of the local chapter of the California Faculty Association, Chris Haynes, said without the raises, persons with less experience are being paid more or nearly the same as others with more experience.
The CSU is offering $1 million, which is the left over amount from the initial $7 million paid in the 2007/2008 fiscal year.
The union says the $1 million is already theirs and maintain that the additional $7 million is also needed.
The 2008/2009 raises were always contingent on the state providing enough funds to cover them, but by July 2008 the state of California had yet to pass a budget and in September it announced a $97.6 million budget cut to the CSU system.
Since the state did not produce a budget, Reed saw this as the state failing to meet its obligations and enacted Section 31.11 of the “Compact” between the CSU and Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger.
The section reads: "The General Salary Increases provided in fiscal years [2007-2010] shall be reconsidered if the CSU does not receive an amount in the Budget Act for that year consistent with the Compact."
By breaking the contract, Reed automatically initiated another clause to be null, Article 9, the ‘no strike clause’.
“The union will not go on strike over this issue,” said Haynes.
Natural resources major, Devan Hemmings, feels that administrators like Reed and President Rollin Richmond across California, should sacrifice more of their own money.
“Instead of the pay gap between instructors and faculty getting bigger, it should be getting smaller,” said Hemmings.
From 2008 to 2009, Richmond’s salary was cut by $9,500. Provost Robert Snyder’s salary was cut by $194.
Sulpture major, Justin Killstab, says instructors should look at the larger community to see what is needed, as well as focus on the long-term effects of their actions. “If they don’t cut the raises, they’ll have to cut somewhere else,” he says.
Haynes expects the CSU to keep fighting this issue until June 2010, when California Faculty Association and CSU go back to the collective bargaining table.
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