Tentative Agreement Townhall Sessions Available

The details of our tentative agreement (TA) terms are now available here.

Voting on the TA will begin on February 12 at 8 a.m. and end on February 18 at 5 p.m.

In the meantime, we will be hosting virtual statewide townhall meetings these next two weeks to listen to faculty thoughts and answer questions about the TA. Sign up for the townhall meetings here. The schedule is as follows:

January 31 at 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

February 1 at 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

February 2 at 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

February 6 at 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

February 7 at 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

February 8 at 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Check with your campus leadership or field representative here to see if they will be holding individual campus townhalls to discuss the details of the agreement.

This contract fight has been a telling one. Our members – whatever their sentiments regarding the TA – are engaged and committed to creating a more just CSU, a CSU that is equitable and inclusive in scope.

We understand the TA has generated controversy among some of us who wish to achieve nothing short of what we have been justly demanding for the past several months. For others of us, the TA reflects substantial progress toward our goals and an opportunity to get faculty members much needed salary increases and improvements to our working conditions that will sustain us for the work ahead, including full successor contract bargaining.

If CFA members vote ‘Yes’ to the tentative agreement, all faculty will receive everything that is in the accepted terms of the agreement. The terms of the TA include:

• 5-percent General Salary Increase (GSI) for all faculty retroactive to July 1, 2023.
• 5-percent General Salary Increase for all faculty on July 1, 2024 (contingent on there not being an overall cut to CSU’s base funding from the state, which last happened in 2008).
• Raising the salary floor for our lowest-paid faculty in salary Ranges A and B:
  • 21.6% increase to Range A minimum salary after the GSI ($54,360 to $66,082 for FTE).
  • 15.1% increase to Range B minimum salary after the GSI ($64,860 to $74,658 for FTE).

Approximately 10,000 faculty, or roughly one-third of all faculty will experience a significant increase from raising the floor.

• Service Salary Increase (SSI) of 2.65% for 2024-25.
• Increasing paid parental leave from 6 to 10 weeks (a 67% increase in paid leave).
• Adding first-time contract language that acknowledges the importance of moving all campuses to a 1,500:1 students-to-counselor ratio (a ratio recommended by the International Accreditation of Counseling Services). CSU management has consistently disregarded the legitimacy of the ratio and the life-altering impact it would have on students.
• Adding the option for counselors to request academic-year or 10-month employment contracts.
• First-time contract language establishing a funded pool of assigned time for lecturers who provide service to their university.
• Adding language on course caps protecting against unilateral increases by management.
• First-time contract language establishing rights and protection for faculty who are interviewed or approached by police.
• First-time contract language regarding access to gender-inclusive restrooms and lactation spaces, and a process to monitor issues of access and adequacy.
• Increasing supplemental department chair pay (for the first time in over 13 years) from at least $80 to $160 monthly; with an increase from $120 to $240 monthly for chairs of departments with 18 or more FTE faculty effective July 1, 2023.
• Extending the current contract for 2022-24 one year to June 30, 2025, which allows CFA members to come together and plan for our next powerful bargaining campaign.

By voting ‘No,’ members reject the terms of the tentative agreement and all faculty return to the state of imposition. The terms of imposition were as follows:

• A 5% General Salary Increase (GSI) (effective January 31, 2024),
• A pay increase for department chairs of $160 per month of service as a chair person (effective at the start of the 2023/24 academic year)
• A possible increase of faculty parking fees by 15-18 percent per month.

With a return to imposition, we would continue to advocate for a better agreement, though CSU management is not obligated to return to the bargaining table. Imposition would move forward while faculty could respond with future work stoppage actions. Some members have suggested that we escalate to an indefinite strike, a move that has serious implications for both faculty and students. Members have frequently told us they are living paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to have their pay docked for a week, let alone an indefinite period. Many faculty have also raised valid concerns about the potential harm such a strike would bring to our students’ education and their progress towards degrees.

During these past many months, we have cultivated incredible support for one another in an unprecedented time in the CSU’s history. This TA comes on the heels of imposition and a systemwide strike. For us to achieve the significant gains we did on a reopener contract when management consistently offered us so little, shows us the power of our union… a power that was maximized on January 22.

The collective power of our members, students, and community allies has brought us to this moment. Although we did not get everything we wanted, the meaningful gains in this contract reflect how far we’ve come as an organizing union committed to anti-racism and social justice. There is no doubt that the work continues, and that more progress is needed.

Members should know what a yes vote and no vote signify. The vote now lies before all of us.