Strike Authorization Voting Ends Tomorrow, Factfinding Continues

Voting to authorize a faculty-wide strike – if necessary – is now open.

Members can click here to cast their confidential vote. Non-members can sign up for membership and vote via provisional ballot.

Our strike authorization vote will end Friday at 5 p.m. For more information including FAQs on the vote, click here.

CFA Los Angeles member Michelle Vanegas is working to make sure her colleagues vote.

“For me personally, the possibility of a strike is empowering, but I also know that some of us might be feeling anxious or apprehensive. I totally get that. There’s a lot of fear and discomfort that comes with uncertainty – it’s something I feel every semester when I’m waiting to find out if I’ll have enough units to keep my health insurance or make enough money to be financially stable,” said Vanegas, a lecturer at CSU Los Angeles.

The CFA Bargaining Team met several times with CSU management over the summer on re-opener contract bargaining. In our last year of our 2022-24 Collective Bargaining Agreement, we agreed to open select articles. Unfortunately, CSU management is unwilling to address systemic issues and we reached impasse. We’ve been meeting in factfinding with an independent arbitrator while members continue holding solidarity rallies at their campuses.

“The only way we are going to fix this, and we know this from prior experience, is if we vote to strike. Let’s show that we mean business.”

– Sharon Elise, CFA Associate Vice President of Racial & Social Justice, South

CFA Associate Vice President of Racial & Social Justice, South, Sharon Elise is voting yes to authorize a strike.

“We have argued for a contract that will go a long way to fix our broken salary structure but also bring about some needed changes for our anti-racism social justice campaign. We need a 12-percent raise, but we also have to do something for our most poorly compensated faculty. They are making less money than a K-12 teacher. We need to do something for our parenting faculty – 30 days isn’t enough. We need a full semester of paid leave. We also need to limit repressive police power on our campuses. You know that the sight of militarized police stomping down your hall at work is not conducive to safe and secure learning and working conditions in the CSU,” said Elise, a professor at CSU San Marcos. “The only way we are going to fix this, and we know this from prior experience, is if we vote to strike. Let’s show that we mean business.”

Management has also shunned our efforts to lessen counselor workload so students have better access to mental health services. They’ve rejected our proposal to create accessible lactation and milk storage spaces for lactating faculty, and our call for safe gender-inclusive restrooms and changing rooms.

A “No” vote on strike authorization means accepting CSU management’s last offer of 5 percent in a General Salary Increase and no significant movement on: pay equity for our lowest-compensated faculty, one-semester of parental leave, improved access for students to mental health services, safe restrooms for trans, queer, and non-binary people, sanitary spaces for lactating folks, and campus safety for us all.

Stay up to date on negotiations at www.CFAbargaining.org.