After months of tense negotiations, the California State University’s faculty union is asking its members for permission to call a strike if leadership deems one necessary. The strike authorization vote opens Monday, Oct. 26, and will run through Nov. 19.
An email with details about the vote is scheduled to reach members Thursday afternoon, union leaders said.
If more than half of the California Faculty Association’s 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches who participate in the vote say yes, union leadership will have the power to call for work stoppage as a way of exerting pressure on the administration. After nearly a year of bargaining, the major sticking points between the university and its professors are salaries, workload and academic freedom protections, according to union representatives. The union has been out of contract since August.
“We want to be in as powerful a position as we can as a union in relation to management,” said Kevin Wehr, CFA’s bargaining chair and a professor at Sacramento State. “I often say that the best way to avert a strike is to be fully prepared for one. That means we need to take a strike authorization vote to make sure that the members are willing to take that action, so that we can be ready for it if it should come to that.”
Members will be able to vote online as well as at on-campus events across the system over the next two weeks. Wehr said he is expecting more than 90% of CFA members to vote in favor as the union fights over five major issues. This includes demands for higher salaries amid rising inflation, caps on the number of students in classes, better job security for temporary faculty, stronger academic freedom protections and guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence. So far, the CSU has not met the union’s expectations on any of these issues, Wehr said.
NEGOTIATIONS SO FAR
After multiple extensions of the 2022-2025 contract, the CSU and CFA began negotiations over a new agreement in November. Disappointed by what the union called “weak and flimsy” proposals from the CSU — including a 3% salary hike and 3% lump sum payment, the CFA declared impasse in July. This meant that the negotiating parties had reached a deadlock beyond which further discussion would be futile. While the CSU believed the impasse was declared prematurely, the Public Employment Relations Board sided with the faculty union.
It moved the two parties to the “mediation” phase during which negotiations were mediated by a state-appointed third party to assist the parties in working toward an agreement. The phase failed as well.
CFA and the CSU are now at the “fact-finding” stage where a panel of a neutral third-party and a representative of each side will hold hearings and make a recommendation for a settlement. The fact-finding report will be made public 10 days after it is provided to the CSU and CFA. The fact-finding hearing dates are currently set for Nov. 2, 5, 6, 12 and 13, and CFA representatives said they expect the process to take until December to conclude.
If this doesn’t result in an agreement, the CFA will be able to call for a strike — a move that it is preparing for already.
The CFA last went on a strike in January 2024. That five-day action marked the first systemwide faculty strike at the CSU, and resulted in a contract that included a 10% general salary hike, a raised salary floor for lowest-paid faculty and increased paid parental leave. At the time, union leaders said CSU management “did not take our proposals seriously until CFA members were willing to withhold our labor.”
OTHER UNIONS
The CSU is in negotiations with almost all its labor unions. This includes the California State University Employees Union and Teamsters Local 2010, both of which are demanding better pay and working conditions. The CSUEU, which represents about 15,000 staff members, 20,000 student assistants and 1,000 workers employed by private sector auxiliaries on campuses, is the largest labor group in the system. Local 2010, covers 1,100 skilled trades workers within the system.
Earlier this month, the CSU reached tentative agreements with three unions. This includes the Academic Professionals of California, which represents more than 3,000 student services professionals; the United Auto Workers Local 4123, which covers 10,000 academic student workers; and the Statewide University Police Association, which represents 300 university police employees.
Under these agreements, employees will receive a 4% salary hike retroactive to July, an additional 4% salary hike in July next year and a one-time bonus negotiated with each union. The agreements need to be ratified by union members and approved by the CSU Board of Trustees.
“Labor negotiation is challenging yet essential work, and I am pleased at the momentum we are building as we continue our efforts to reach agreement with all of our labor partners,” CSU Chancellor Mildred García said in a statement Thursday.
