The CFA strike that was going to take place from April 13th through 15th and April 18th through 19th is no more.
In an email sent out from the office of Cal Poly President Jeffery Armstrong, students were made aware that the CSU and the CFA (California Faculty Association) reached a tentative agreement and that classes will continue as normal. The email was forwarded from Chancellor Tim White of the CSU. This information comes as good news to the entire administration, faculty and most students (some students were actually pretty excited to not have to go to school). However, the very threat of a strike and the prolonging of it should be concerning to all those involved.
The fact that the CSU system was unwilling to increase further investment in students by not raising the pay of those who instruct them for so long is disheartening. Also, it is even more appalling that the university professors were promised a proposed five percent raise of pay, didn’t get it and then had to threaten to strike because of it. On average, CSU faculty makes 46,000 dollars a year and they can’t even get a measly 5 percent? In comparison to the UC system and even the community college system, CSU tenured faculty make thousands less. Not to mention that the majority of CSU faculty are not even close to getting tenure. Instead, the majority of CSU instructors are temporary lecturers who are struggling just to make ends meet. By far the most frustrating thing about all this is how much money administrators make in the CSU system. On average, CSU presidents make 321,000 dollars each year. According to transparentcalifornia, Cal Poly President Jeffery Armstrong made $346,971.74 in 2014, not even mentioning benefits. Although I do value the efforts of President Armstrong, the fact that he is making almost ten times more than one of my hard-working professors truly frustrates me.
Although I am glad that the CSU and CFA came to an agreement and classes are going to continue, a part of me is frustrated at the CFA for not striking. The tentative agreement that was reached is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. The California State faculty is completely undervalued and although they were able to tentatively agree to a pay raise the CSU system and administrators will continue to take advantage of a flawed system. It is a system in which the administrators of the CSU make selfish decisions that impact individual campuses immensely. Take for instance the agreement between the CFA and CSU. The entire CSU system will not have to pay these raises the individual campuses will. This will take the burden off the system itself and put it on the individual universities.
A strike would have been a powerful message for the teachers to send. Hundreds of thousands of students would have not been present in class and most likely would have been standing in solidarity with the teachers. The California Legislature would of surely heard the ruckus. If we learned anything from the almost strike, it’s that we are dealing with a problem that a temporary agreement cannot fix.
