The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: CFA

  • The strike doesn’t dismiss you, I do; why some Cal Poly Humboldt professors didn’t join the strike

    by Eli Farrington

    This Monday marked the beginning of what was projected to be a week-long statewide strike throughout California State University (CSU) campuses, with professors and faculty from every CSU engaging in protest for better pay and working conditions. However, some professors at the Cal Poly Humboldt campus chose to refrain from participating despite a request from the California Faculty Association (CFA) for all faculty members to strike.

    According to the CFA website, the union had a better chance of success if every faculty member in the CSU system participated in a strike. However, any faculty member who chose to participate could not be fired, dismissed or punished in any way by the administration. So, why did some professors choose not to strike?

    Economics professor Beth Wilson is not in the CFA union, having canceled her membership in Dec. 2023 during several strikes across other CSU campuses. 

    “I think that the union is absolutely wrong,” Wilson said. “The university does not have a bunch of extra money; they have already cut several programs, and they’re going to cut more.The Chancellor’s office has come out with a list that is from a data perspective, and it’s the same metric for all CSUs regardless of size. We’re a smaller campus, so we have more programs [in danger of being cut] on this list.” 

    According to Wilson, the Chancellor’s office has used this list for program elimination, and worries that Cal Poly Humboldt would look very different in the future if the union priced themselves out of the market by demanding a 12% raise rather than accepting the CSU’s original offer of 5%. She is wary about the impact this could have on her department and her students in the coming years, and wants to prioritize their education over her own financial gain. 

    “A 12% increase is ridiculous,” Wilson said. “It is way too high. A 5% increase is reasonable, and it is not a pay cut. We have not had annual inflation of 5% and we’ve had prices that have come back down again, so the idea that we need 12% to keep pace with inflation is factually incorrect.”

    Many professors and faculty viewed the CSU’s 5% offer as offensively inadequate considering the $12 billion dollars that the chancellor and management have been stockpiling as reserves, according to the CFA’s strike FAQ page.

    Despite Wilson’s insistence that a 12% increase was an unreasonably large demand for the union to make, an independent report on CSU finance titled, “Financial Analysis of the California State University System,” by Howard Bunsis, Professor of Accounting at Eastern Michigan University, found that the CFA’s request could be fulfilled using existing annual surpluses without dipping into the CSU system’s reserve funds. It also explains how a 12% raise was an acceptable amount given current and predicted California inflation rates, as well as statewide raises in tuition and cost of living.

    According to the CFA, CSU management recently voted in favor of a 34% tuition increase over the course of the next five years and imposed a $2 monthly parking fee increase on faculty. All the while Cal Poly Humboldt created a $100 on-campus housing application fee for new students. Coincidentally, campus presidents saw an increase in pay of up to 29%. According to the CalMatters website, CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia herself received a 27% pay increase July of 2023, upped to a $795,000 base salary, along with monthly allowances for automobiles and housing. 

    A professor, who chose to go by John Doe, for personal safety reasons stated that they were in favor of the strike and the CFA’s demands, but chose not to participate because of the timing and impact on student success. 

    “My reason for not striking is, that with the classes I have, it’s too much of an impact on the students,” Doe said. “The timing is very poor for the scheduling that I have for my classes, and so it’s not fair to the students to force everyone to stop for a week and then play catch-up all the way through to the final.”

    This professor made the decision to continue teaching despite supporting the strike, but they still had many problems with the way the campus is managed. 

    “I believe the workloads are excessive relative to other universities that I’ve taught at,” Doe said. “There’s a lot of chaos and instability that’s introduced when you have a system where a lot of non-full time instructors are brought on to fill in holes in the schedule. It creates chaos for the departments and the individuals, so I’m fully in support of additional wages and an increase to a living wage.”

    Many professors without a PhD and a full-time contract are struggling to afford the cost of living and make ends meet. With salary adjustments that don’t match the current inflation rates, they worry about their ability to afford adequate healthcare and save for retirement. 

    Another faculty member who refrained from striking was Dr. Cynthia M. Le Doux-Bloom, a Cal Poly Humboldt Fisheries Biology & Oceanography lecturer. She is not currently a CFA member, but she strongly supported all of her union member colleagues in their right to strike and believes that CSU instructors, librarians, coaches and other faculty are truly underpaid. She felt conflicted on whether or not she should join the strike, but ultimately chose against it and backed up her decision with two main reasons in an email. 

    “First of all, I am not a CFA union member, nor have I ever been during my five years here at CPH [Cal Poly Humboldt] because, until very recently, I was not teaching every semester; hence, joining a union that I may or may not be a member of every 15 weeks seemed highly unusual,” Le Doux-Bloom said. “I was a member of the California Association of Professional Scientists (CAPS) union for over two decades. I support unions and may join CFA now that I seem to be teaching year-round. Secondly, our students (or their parents or someone else) are paying [around] $15,000/semester to attend CPH [Cal Poly Humboldt]. Semesters include 15 weeks of instruction, which equates to paying $1,000/week or $250/day.” 

    Le Doux-Bloom hoped that her colleagues could appreciate and respect her path even if they disagreed with it. She loves being an instructor and truly wants what’s best for her students. 

    “I cannot stomach penalizing my students’ learning (which they prepaid prior to knowing about the strike) to increase my income,” Le Doux-Bloom said. “Each of our students paid $1,000 this week to support the strike, but were given no choice about their loss of instructional time. This is on top of the ongoing tuition increases, larger classes, reduced services, dilapidated facilities and antiquated equipment. My beef is not with my students, it’s with CSU’s top-heavy administration and administrator salaries.”

  • Students should support the CFA strike

    by Alexandra Berrocal

    First, they came for our housing.

    Then, they came for our alternative housing students.

    Now, they are coming for our professors.

    When is this going to end?

    At this time, it is easier than ever to develop an ‘us versus them’ mentality. However, we need to remember that students and professors are all in this together. When we stood up for the right to basic housing last year, professors stood with us. When students living in their vehicles were, for heaven’s sake, cruelly kicked out of the school parking lots, professors stood with us. Professors have always been our allies in a world that seems to be squeezing us tighter and tighter. 

    Let’s make this clear: the world is becoming a harsher and harsher place to live, and universities, unfortunately, are not exempt from this. Students can still struggle throughout their college experience for all kinds of reasons. Despite the university attempting to make it easy for students to access mental health resources and disability accommodations, accessing those services can still be hard for people. We need them now more than ever.

    I personally cannot justify the university only giving staff a month of parental leave. How can anyone justify leaving a new baby without their parent at daycare after only a month? Professors should have a semester of parental leave, at least. That should just be common sense, and I don’t understand how that isn’t the law of the land. I also cannot believe that some of the lecturers who are so willing to share their expertise with the students are not making liveable wages. This is unconscionable. I believe that college professors and lecturers deserve the greatest respect because they pass down important knowledge and educate the new generation. This respect should extend to transgender and non-binary staff. It is basic common sense that there should be access to gender-neutral bathrooms for faculty. Students these days claim to care about trans rights, yet fail to advocate for their leadership’s rights to these same facilities. Universities claim to be bastions of progressive ideals yet they pay lip service to trans students, while simultaneously neglecting their own faculty. Speaking of faculty, my former faculty advisor was swamped with work that was completely unrelated to teaching last semester and I know that he is not alone. My advisor has had to do more administrative work lately with less time to focus on her passion for teaching. From my point of view, that’s pretty crazy – and not in a good way.

    When we protested, our teachers stood with us. It’s time for us to stand with them.

  • CFA settles and calls off strike after one day, Teamsters settle over weekend

    CFA settles and calls off strike after one day, Teamsters settle over weekend

    by Andres Felix Romero

    Across the California State University system, thousands of students expected a pause in classes, thousands of faculty expected to trade in their pens and markers for picket signs and thousands of skilled laborers were prepared to drop their tools for the week of Jan. 22-26 to strike.

    However, the Teamsters 2010 announced Friday, Jan. 19 they reached an agreement with the Chancellor’s Office. After one day of a weeklong planned strike, it was announced by the California Faculty Association (CFA) the night of Jan. 22 that they and the Chancellor’s office had settled with a tentative agreement as well. Campus operations are set to return to full swing by the end of this week. 

    Teamster’s Agreement Highlights

    The Teamsters were able to secure an immediate 5% pay increase, with back pay retroactive to July 1, 2023. They were also able to establish a step-pay system, meaning that skilled laborers within the CSU system will have a pay increase each year. Teamsters were also able to maintain their pension, medical benefits, and their emergency pay.

    With the Teamsters able to get back to work and have an agreement for a solid contract in order with better pay, skilled laborers on the Humboldt Campus such as locksmith Phillip Bradley felt a sense of relief. 

    “Obviously [having an agreement in place] just takes a lot of stress off,” Bradley said. “Uncertainty creates a lot of anxiety.”

    Librarian Carly Marino drums while crossing 14th St. | Photo by Griffin Mancuso

    CFA Agreements Highlights

    The CFA also secured a 5% increase in pay retroactive to July 1, 2023. There is planned to be another 5% increase on July 1, 2024, effectively giving faculty a roughly 10% increase in pay. However, the 2024 increase is contingent on the state not cutting CSU funding. There will also be more protections in place for faculty dealing with police, and improved access to gender-inclusive restrooms and lactation spaces. Also for faculty that are new parents, paid parental leave has increased from six to 10 weeks.

    Faculty, such as English professor Sarah Ben-Zvi, had to find ways to balance parenthood with work. Despite the support of her department to make her maternity leave as smooth as possible, she still felt some struggle. She felt that the increase in time for maternity leave was appreciated, but it may not be enough. 

    “It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but I still don’t think it’s enough time,” Ben-Zvi said. “I feel like it was not until maybe three months after my kid was born, that I started to feel almost human again… and able to give my students what they deserve, which is a great teacher who is on her game.”

    Another mother and professor with a newborn is English professor Tessa Head, who was on the picket line with her 14-month-old child. Head feels that a paid semester of parental leave would be beneficial for not just parents but the students as well. 

    “[A semester of parental leave] would give you time to bond with your babies and take care of them, to form that secure attachment,” Head said. “And for students, I think it would provide better learning conditions because they would have a faculty member who is present for the whole semester.”

    CFA faculty rights chair Loren Cannon was present on the picket line striking his drum and leading strikers. He shared his thoughts on the outcome of the tentative agreement.

    “We really did make some gains,” Cannon said. “I guess [the Chancellor’s Office] didn’t expect us to actually pull off a strike or something, because we only struck for one day [then came to a tentative agreement with the Chancellor’s Office].”

    Richard Toledo leads faculty and students across 14th St. holding signs on the picket line. | Photo by Griffin Mancuso

    Student Reactions

    With notice being given by faculty not to expect classes this week, some students made plans for work or travel. Students like Criminology and Social Justice Major Jocelyn Douglas faced some struggles when they scheduled extra shifts at work this week, only to be told that class would be back in session. The short notice has left students such as Douglas feeling disorganized.

    “I took this opportunity of thinking that I had a week off of school to work 60 hours with both jobs that I work at, to be able to catch up on bills,” Douglas said. “Being a full-time student and working full-time, sometimes conflicts with each other. And with less than a 24-hour notice that we do have to attend school, and with my classes being mandatory for attendance, I’m kind of conflicted about [choosing] between work and school. Thank God the teachers are being pretty lenient so far.”

    Scene of Strike

    As for the strike itself, dozens of faculty and their supporters were on the picket line. They danced with their signs to the passing cars that honked their support, all the while they moved to energizing music blaring over speakers. Some signs read, “5% don’t pay the rent,” “California Strike University” and “You can’t put students first if you put faculty last.”

    Students were present on the line to support their faculty. Students such as accounting major Lealu Freedom felt an obligation to support their professors due to the past support they have given to her. 

    “[If faculty have better conditions they] can devote more time to their students, and create a more enjoyable experience versus focusing so much on trying to get their needs met,” Freedom said. “It’s kind of like a student. You know, if the student’s struggling with housing, they’re not gonna be able to learn. Same thing with a teacher, if they’re struggling with basic needs, they are not gonna be able to teach.”

    What’s Next

    Language for the contracts will be rewritten based on the tentative agreement, and the CFA is expected to vote on whether or not to officially ratify the contract within the coming weeks to months.

    Although the CFA and Teamsters unions made gains in this situation, CFA President Marisol Ruiz acknowledges that there is still work to be done.

    “When we are striking, we’re striking for better working conditions for all,” Ruiz said. “For all the faculty and the students, we should all be supportive and in unison working together to fight. There’s still a 6% increase of tuition hikes, and that’s a fight that needs to continue to happen.”

  • CFA and Teamsters commit to joint strike second week of classes

    CFA and Teamsters commit to joint strike second week of classes

    by Andres Felix Romero

    Originally printed 1/17/24

    After over a year of negotiations with the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office, the California Faculty Association (CFA), which represents lecturers, professors, counselors, coaches and librarians, and Teamsters Local 2010, which represents skilled laborers such as locksmiths, plumbers, painters, etc., have decided to strike during the second week of classes Jan. 22-26.

    This will be the second strike for the Teamsters following their day-long strike across the CSU system on November 14, 2023. As for the CFA, this is their second strike as well, following their series of strikes across select CSU campuses in December 2023. 

    Goals for Strike

    Teamsters such as Housing Locksmith Phillip Bradley and the CFA hope that the combined strike will bring the CSU back to the bargaining table.

    “If you don’t have classes, you’re not going to have students-and if you don’t have students, you don’t have much of a university,” Bradley said. “So honestly, we’re hoping that the threat of [a week without classes] will get us back to the negotiating table, but the ultimate goal of this is to get some fair labor contracts.”

    The CFA in particular is fighting for better aspects in their contracts, such as paid leave for parents, lactation rooms, safer bathroom options and as CFA President Marisol Ruiz highlights as the most important, a wage increase that can compete with the recent 8% increase in inflation.

    “The end goal for us is to get our 12% [wage increase] that we deserve,” Ruiz said. “[The 5% wage increase that the Chancellor’s office is offering] is behind inflation and would mean that we’re getting a pay cut. Are you seeing the gas prices? Have you seen the PG&E bill? Have you seen the food prices? [The Chancellor’s Office] is cutting our salary because it doesn’t keep up with inflation, so we’re doing the same work for less pay.”

    The CSU has previously stated that they lack the funds to accommodate the 12% pay increase. However, Ruiz questions that the CSU lacks the funds, as evidenced by the salaries of the CSU presidents and chancellors, as well as pay increases they receive.

     “If [the CSU system] didn’t have the money, why did the Board of Trustees allow [new CSU Chancellor] Mildred Garcia to [receive] almost a million dollars for her salary?” Ruiz said. “For me, [the Board of Trustees are] not making good decisions. They’re using our taxpayer dollars, our student’s money, to give the rich more, and it’s not trickling down to us, the workers – the ones on the front lines with the students.”

    Potential Impact of the CFA-Teamster Strike on Campus

    Besides classes being canceled, there are more potential and expected impacts on the campus community at large. CFA Faculty Rights Chair and member of the state-wide bargaining team for the CFA, Loren Cannon, explains the extent of the strike for faculty besides lecturers temporarily trading their markers for picket signs.

    “We cannot do any other work,” Cannon said. “There’s no halfway to strike. If somebody said, ‘Hey, I’m not going to teach my classes, but I’m going to answer my students’ emails,’ – we can’t do that. We can be reprimanded. We can be disciplined. We can lose our jobs. So, the laws about striking, it’s gotta be an all-or-nothing.”

    During the week of the strike, the Teamsters and the CFA will be picketing across campus, notably on LK Wood and 14th Street. Ruiz encourages students to support by joining the line throughout the week and hopes that the actions can be a teaching moment. 

    “[The CFA and Teamsters are] modeling,” Ruiz said. “We don’t know what industry [the students are] going to be in, but in any industry, they’re going to have to join a union to protect their wages.”

    Bradley wants to make it clear that the Teamsters’ strike isn’t to attack Humboldt but to send a message to the CSU at large.

    “This strike is not about protesting Humboldt,” Bradley said. “All this is about our collective bargaining with the Chancellor’s Office and the CSU system as a whole. We’ve got good managers and supervisors at Humboldt who have been very respectful and very supportive, and have been going above and beyond.”

    With the Teamsters on strike, there will likely be much deeper impacts on the campus. Bradley explains that the university will likely need to hire outside contractors to keep the basic functions of the campus moving.

    “We have to assume [the university is] arranging to bring in contractors or [other skilled laborers] that cover for leaks or [other repairs],” Bradley said. “But, we all have to go through extensive background checks before we’re hired because, you know, we work around students. And contractors cost more, outsourcing rarely results in long-term savings.”

    On top of the CSU Teamsters being on strike, other Teamsters belonging to other companies and groups will not be crossing the picket line out of solidarity. 

    “It’s a good strike because it’s a [Teamster] sanctioned strike,” Bradley said. “That means all of the other Teamsters won’t cross that line. Food deliveries won’t happen [such as Sysco Foods, which delivers much of the campus dining food]. UPS also won’t deliver. Any other Teamster-related service won’t cross that line. It will probably halt or delay construction on the new buildings [as those Teamsters are also affiliated with those projects.]”

    Despite Sysco Foods not delivering for the campus next week, Assistant Retail Director Carlos Castillo assures that Dining services has prepared for the strike and there will be no expected food shortages.

    “All units are ordering heavy this week in order to get through all of next week,” Castillo said. “So that way, there are no food shortages for the week.”
    What About Those That Can’t Afford to Strike?

    As much as some faculty members would like to strike alongside their colleagues, some simply aren’t able to, as the financial hit of losing pay while on strike would be too much for them. Child Development Professor Larisa Callaway-Cole is trying to find a balance between supporting the action and meeting the needs of her family.

    “I have spent significant time thinking about my position with the strike and have come to the following decision for myself,” Callaway-Cole wrote in an email to her students. “I cannot afford to strike. I am a new single mom, which has come with a significant increase in costs that I am learning to balance. If I were to strike for a whole week, I would not be able to pay all of my bills. That being said, I would like to show solidarity with my union, and will be striking on Friday, January 26.” 

    Why Strike Now?

    Cannon clarifies that he feels the strike could have been avoided if the Chancellor’s Office were negotiating fairly.

    “We weren’t getting anywhere at the negotiation table,” Cannon said. “From my perspective, it just seemed like they weren’t ready to negotiate with us at all. The strike could have been called off if they had brought us something that made sense that we could work with, but I think they just want to act like there’s no union here at all. We said, ‘All right, then the strike is going on.’ This may be the largest strike in the history of higher education.”

    Cannon highlights the importance of the unions standing in solidarity together and taking action towards the CSU system.

    “The CSU does not work without faculty. The CSU does not work without the Teamsters,” Cannon said. “If we don’t make a stand, it’s just going to get worse. It’s going to get worse for faculty members, and it’s going to get worse for students.”

  • Students and faculty rally against tuition hike 

    Students and faculty rally against tuition hike 

    by Jake Hyslop

    On an otherwise unremarkable foggy Thursday morning, students and faculty alike met on the main Quad at Cal Poly Humboldt in order to protest the vote to raise tuition by the CSU Board of Trustees. Signs adorned with, “don’t make students your ATM” and “stop targeting education,” were taped to walls and held by protesters. 

    As the weather began to heat up, so too did the rally. Cries of, “chop from the top” and “education is a right,” rang out across the campus. 

    The event was organized by the Students for Quality Education (SQE) and the California Faculty Association (CFA), as well as by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Other groups showed up to speak, including the Critical Race, Gender, and Sexuality (CRGS) Club and the CSU Employees Union (CSUEU). 

    The rally was held in response to the Sept. 13 vote by the Board of Trustees to raise tuition 6% every year for the next five years. CSU defended the vote by pointing to inflation increases and a relative lack of tuition rate increases; the Board of Trustees deemed it a necessity. 

    “We know [administration] can pull from their own salaries and they have reserves they can pull from,” Zoe Reed, a third-year CRGS student and intern for SQE said. “But instead, they’re putting that on us, the people who work here and are learning here, who can’t afford that.” 

    Many speakers at the protest, including Mary Mangubat, a third-year environmental studies student and SQE intern, called for the CSU to rely on the reserve money they have to account for inflation and rising costs rather than taking it out of the students’ pockets. 

    “The CSU has $8.8 billion in reserves that they do not want to touch because they said that they only pull out that money when there’s financial uncertainty in time,” Mangubat said. “What the hell are we in right now?” 

    Mangubat cited the pandemic and the student organizations struggling under the recent Associated Students budget cuts due to low enrollment numbers as criteria befitting a time of uncertainty. 

    Another common complaint was the amount of money CSU administrators were paid relative to the income and costs suffered by students and faculty. President of the CFA Humboldt Chapter Marisol Ruiz weighed in and called for the current Board of Trustees to be fired. 

    “I think it’s just terrible that we have faculty here that make as much as someone’s housing and car allowances,” Ruiz said. “We need equity, and we need people that are responsible to the people to be part of the Board of Trustees.”

    Rick Toledo, an environmental science major and one of the main organizers of the event as a representative of SDS, led many of the chants at the rally before providing a speech of his own. 

    “Think about the weight of a billion dollars,” Toledo said. “They have over 12 of those in their budget. Yet they can’t pay faculty and staff? Yet they have to use students as their ATM? I call BS.” 

    Toledo explained how the administration has sewn a narrative of discord between faculty and students, pitting them against each other to cover for themselves. He went on to say that the CSU is lying in their reasoning for not using the reserves available to them. 

    “In reality, the reserves have been built up to boost their credit so they can borrow more money for more capital investments on projects,” Toledo said. “They’re basically turning the entire thing into a hedge fund with education as the front.” 

    Some students expressed skepticism over the success of holding a rally. Gavin Martin, a theater arts student, questioned how successful a protest against administration sanctioned by administration can be. He likened it to the housing protests during the Spring 2023 semester. 

    “After the protest, we all went to look for homes individually,” Martin said. “We were supposed to be in this together.”

    Mangubat announced the rally’s list of demands for the CSU through a megaphone. The first was to end the tuition hike and take money from the reserves. The second was for the administration to stop relying on students to fund student programs. The third demand called for higher wages for faculty, staff and student workers. The fourth demand called for funding for programs that provide resources for basic needs such as housing, food and mental health resources. Sufficient funding for cultural centers for marginalized communities was the final demand. 

    ‘If we are not heard, we will continue making noise,” Toledo said. “We will continue to be loud until we are heard.”

  • CFA gets the word out on the quad, announces rally

    CFA gets the word out on the quad, announces rally

    by Hank Wicklund

    At midday on Thursday Oct. 5, a student hunched over a table, drawing a spiked boot splattered with blood, the front of Art B plastered with posters behind her. Phrases like, “Don’t make students your ATM,” and “Shame on you, CSU,” stood in stark contrast with the dark wall. A clear voice rang across the quad below, calling out to passersby. The air buzzed with the day’s unusual heat, becoming charged with urgent words and the smell of free coffee, drawing the eyes and noses of students to three folding tables, specifically the people behind them. 

    These were organizers from the California Faculty Association – the labor union for CSU faculty –  and the Students for Quality Education, a student-led organization for education rights across the CSU system. They were there in response to the CSU Board of Trustees’ vote to raise tuition. This demonstration was also intended to promote the CFA’s upcoming rally on Oct. 19, where they plan to protest further. People were encouraged to enjoy refreshments, grab union merch and help make posters. Among the organizers present was Humboldt CFA President Marisol Ruiz.

    “We’re forgetting that this is a public university, publicly funded. It’s not a private institution and we need to stop treating it like a private institution,” said Ruiz.

    Ruiz explained that the CFA’s goals are a halt on tuition hikes as well as better pay and working conditions for faculty. This protest comes on the heels of long-standing grievances regarding what the CFA says is inequitable pay for faculty. According to Ruiz, the CSU has the money to fund education and pay its employees fairly without the need for tuition hikes, yet has strayed from the path of education as a public good. 

    A board bearing the words, “How Much Do You Owe?” was propped up against a planter in front of the tables. Students had scrawled their answers, the numbers going as high as $100,000.

    Also present behind the tables was SQE chapter head Mary Mangubat. According to Mangubat, outreach by the SQE has been quite successful this semester at getting people engaged, because the tuition hike affects not only students but the entire CSU ecosystem.

    “When they hear our admin makes a million a year, but students are in 100k debt,” said Mangubat. “They’re gonna want to be involved.”

    SQE was founded in 2008 as part of the CFA and holds weekly meetings Fridays at 4 p.m. in Nelson Hall. Mangubat described them as fighting for an equitable, accessible education that is free from discrimination and debt.

    Making a poster at one of the tables was Erika Ospenson, an environmental science and management major. Ospenson only found out about the outcome of the Board’s vote that morning from a friend in SQE and is now left with doubts about the cost of her education. She plans on attending the rally on Oct. 19 and is interested in getting more involved with SQE.

    “Something I learned today is that I will get halfway through a degree and then not know if I can actually finish it because of the tuition hikes,” said Ospenson. “I’m already barely making ends meet and [only] able to pay my rent in a rent-controlled situation.”

    The tuition hike has rattled the CSU system here and across California, but chapter president Ruiz believes that students and faculty are in this together.

    “Working conditions equal better student conditions, student conditions equal better working conditions,” Ruiz said.

  • CSU Unions bargain with Chancellor’s Office; California Faculty Association considers going on strike

    CSU Unions bargain with Chancellor’s Office; California Faculty Association considers going on strike

    by Andres Felix Romero and Emma Wilson

    Hundreds of miles from Humboldt county in Long Beach, dozens of people are rallying against the decisions of the Chancellor’s and the Board of Trustees that hold the fate of our communities’ future outside of the headquarters of the California State University (CSU).  

    What the CFA is fighting for

    The California Faculty Association (CFA) is one of six CSU Unions present across the 23 campuses. The CFA focuses their support on staff that work directly with students such as lecturers, coaches, and counselors. 

    The other unions are the CSU Employees Union (CSUEU) who support staff that provide essential services to students such as those in admin, the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, Teamsters Local 2010 that supports skilled trade workers such as painters and carpenters, the student union UAW 4123 and finally, the Academic Professionals of California (APC) which provides support to campus staff that work with students outside of the classroom such as financial aid and residence life.

    Currently, the unions are collectively bargaining, and they are fighting for many of the same things. The CFA is campaigning on two main fronts, better wages and financial compensation, as well as better workloads and support to faculty

    Wages

    The CFA is asking for a 12% general salary increase. Cal Poly Pomona CFA member and associate professor of Political Science Marc Scarcelli reasons that although a 12% increase may seem like a lot, it’s essential to keep wages fair as the inflation rates increased 8% since the last bargaining session between the CFA and the CSU.

    “If your wage increases don’t keep up with inflation, your wages are actually going down,” said Scarcelli, “and so if you think about it, we have to threaten the strike just to break even if we’re not actually fighting for more. We’re fighting just to break even. We [got a 3% pay raise] at a time when inflation was over 8%. What we got is effectively a pay cut.” 

    The CFA is also hoping to raise the salary floor for lecturers. Chief Steward of the Humboldt APC Chapter Tania Marin-Zeldin feels that this proposal is needed to help faculty with their standard of living.

    “To hear that some of our members have two jobs because they can’t afford to have a decent living and provide for their families, that’s the sad part,” Said Marin-Zeldin. “We shouldn’t have to have two jobs. We shouldn’t have to be barely living, paycheck to paycheck.”

    Freshman Evaluator and Union Representative of the APC Sierra Farmer hopes that having more competitive wages could help with retention of workers within the CSU system. She explains that because of what feels like unfair wages, many CSU workers, including alumni, leave because they can’t live comfortably with the wages provided.

    “We lose good employees in the Cal State system,”  Said Farmer. “We have lower wages than the UC’s and the community colleges. So we lose really good people to the other systems all the time because they don’t make a living wage.”

    Another financial goal to increase fair wages and combat inflation resulting in pay cuts, is the unions fighting for yearly step-raises within the CSU system.

    Better support for staff and faculty

    To also help with retention rates for faculty and staff, especially counselors, Professor and CFA President of the Humboldt Chapter Marisol Ruiz notes that better policies surrounding tenure and more long-term contracts can help with the feeling of stability for employees.

    “We want [counselors] to get three year contracts,” said Ruiz. “When you’re in a [year-long contract], you’re in a precarious situation. You don’t know if you’re getting your job back or not, so people sometimes don’t want to stay. We’ve had a hard time getting good counselors to stay. We need to offer them better [contracts], where they will be more likely to stay due to better conditions.”

    On top of contracts, the unions want there to be more fair workloads for faculty, as well as better ratios between students and faculty. Ruiz remarks on the importance of a healthy ratio between students and faculty.

    “We want to give [students] more attention,” said Ruiz. “We want to lower class sizes, and focus on [student’s work]. But the [CSU] just wants to cram everybody in. The more care that we have for our students, the better they will do in their classes and the more effective they will be as [learners] and we want that. ”

    Beyond workloads and wages, the unions are also wanting to ensure more gender equity on campuses by providing bathrooms and changing facilities that people can feel safe with no matter their gender. They also want better paid parental leave and more lactation stations for parents across campuses. 

    Process of Union Bargaining and Current State of Negotiations

    Every few years, each of the unions on the CSU campuses reopen their contracts with the CSU to bargain. This year’s cycle is unique as it was delayed due to COVID, and instead of bargaining in a staggered way, every union is negotiating their contracts at once. As of the writing of this article, every union aside from the CFA is still at the bargaining table. The CFA has declared an impasse with the CSU since they did not come anywhere close to an agreement, and has moved onto the fact-finding stage. Faculty Rights Chair for the CFA Humboldt Chapter and Lecturer in the Philosophy Department Loren Cannon explains the process

    “Fact finding is where [the CFA] and [the CSU] produce information and argumentation as to why our proposals are good. [The CSU] will probably try to produce information that says, ‘Oh, we just can’t afford it.’ [The CFA] will produce information that says, ‘well, actually, you can.’ We could go back to bargaining somewhere in the middle here, but if we don’t have any agreement at that point, there might be collective action.”

    If the mediation following the fact finding stage again fails, the union can then vote on to take action, such as a strike. If the CFA does decide to strike, it will likely be in early November as of the time of writing this article. Scarcelli notes that a few within the CFA are looking forward to a chance to strike.

    “In terms of willingness to strike, I talked to a lot of my colleagues and honestly, they’re not just willing, they’re eager,” said Scarcelli. “Colleagues all over the place are chomping at the bit like, ‘when do we get to strike,’ because they’re pissed. They’re just furious. You know, when our incomes are effectively going down. And then we keep seeing that they give appalling raises to university presidents and the Chancellor.” 

    CSU Response

    In a video message and written statement from interim Chancellor Jolene Koester, she affirmed that the CSU is committed to fair pay and compensation for faculty and staff. The CSU has proposed a salary step structure for faculty and staff in the CSU’s to reach 12% over three years, however the increase will be 5% in the first year. The CFA has rejected this and declared impasse following the offer. The CSU leadership say they will be challenged to meet the proposals of the CFA and other unions throughout the CSU.

    CFA flyer

    Why Faculty are Fighting

    With the CSU rejecting some of the union’s requests, many within the union are becoming more frustrated, especially with the wages that the CSU higher-ups and presidents are making. Ruiz notes that on average, after the average CSU president’s salary and allowances for their car and housing, they generate more income than the governor of California.

    “I do not think it is acceptable for us to have a housing allowance for anybody who’s making $300,000. it’s not right, when our students are homeless and are living in cars, and we don’t even pay a living wage to lecturers,” said Ruiz. “ How [is the CSU] getting all this money for car allowances? How are you getting a housing allowance? How are [CSU presidents] being provided for? And our students are not? Your job is not as important as the governor of California, let’s put back the money where it needs to go.”

    Farmer also notes that her yearly wage barely compares to Humboldt President Jacskon’s yearly housing allowance

    Overall, the unions and their members such as Scarcelli are working towards better compensation and working environments to continue supporting students in their journey of creating a better future for themselves.

    “We do what we do because we love education,” said Scarcelli. “We love our students. It would pain me to skip classes, but I will, and I find most students are very receptive to our cause.”