CSU reaches agreement with faculty on day 1 of week-long strike
SACRAMENTO – Faculty at California State University campuses hit the picket lines for a week-long strike on Monday. Not even a full day later, the CSU system and faculty reached an agreement on a tentative deal.
Faculty are expected to return to the classrooms on Tuesday.
"The collective action of so many lecturers, professors, counselors, librarians, and coaches over these last eight months forced CSU management to take our demands seriously. This Tentative Agreement makes major gains for all faculty at the CSU," CFA President Charles Toombs said.
The strike came after months of negotiations stalled over a demand from the faculty's union for a 12 percent pay increase. School administrators offered 5 percent.
What was ultimately agreed to Monday night was a 5% pay bump for all faculty retroactively dated to July 1, 2023, and then another 5% pay raise on July 1, 2024. The salary floor was also bumped up by $3,000 and paid parental leave was increased from six weeks to to 10 weeks.
Additionally, a union rep would be provided for faculty who deal with law enforcement, support would be provided for lecturer engagement in service work, and there would be improved access to gender-inclusive restrooms and lactation spaces.
As the strike kicked off, the California Faculty Association said the CSU keeping its status quo wasn't working for faculty, students, and staff.
"The majority of our faculty are at the lowest end of the pay range, and we think that standing in solidarity with one another to boost everyone up is what we all need to do," said Emily Bukowski, an instructor who was on the picket line at Sacramento State University on Monday.
About 29,000 workers are represented by the California Faculty Association.
Non-faculty workers were also planning to strike this week, but the Teamsters and the CSU system reached an agreement on Friday.
In a new statement released on Monday, CSU officials said they were in contact with the union over the weekend but would not reveal what was communicated.
How much do CSU professors make?
The CSU's self-reported average base salary for full-time faculty was $112,397 as of Fall 2019. However, associate professors, assistant professors, and lecturers make less.
Across all ranks of instructors, the average salary in 2019 was $92,511.
Glassdoor, a job search website that also lets users report salary information, gave a range of $80K to $134K a year salary as of 2023.