Though the strike was postponed due to a tentative agreement reached by the California Faculty Association (CFA) and California State University (CSU) system, CFA is still seeking increased wages.
According to Faculty Rights Chair for CFA Jere Ramsey, administrators received raises, while faculty wages have remained stagnant.
“I think CSU administrators, like so many executives across our country, deep down believe that most of the money should go to administrators and to workers,” Ramsey said. “(Cal Poly) President Armstrong added another $6.7 million per year to the administrative budget in terms of administrative salaries alone.”
Alongside Ramsey, CFA San Luis Obispo Chapter President Graham Archer said the tentative agreement is a compromise. According to Archer, there is enough in the agreement to make the faculty happy, but there’s also enough for the faculty to be upset.
“If the tentative agreement is not successful, when the faculty vote for or against it at the end of this month, if it goes down we are absolutely ready to strike in the fall,” Archer said.
According to former CFA San Luis Obispo Chapter President Richard Saenz, the reason the Chancellor came to the agreement was because of the strike.
“If we had not been prepared to strike, then that would not have happened and we wouldn’t have an agreement,” Saenz said.
Ramsey said even with the raise, it is unfair that administration gets paid more than faculty.
“Between 2010 and 2014, tuition increased by 41 percent at Cal Poly; that’s unconscionable,” Ramsey said. “And we know where that money went; that money didn’t go to faculty, that money went to administrators.”
Ramsey and CFA plan on continuing their fight to get the wages they think faculty deserves.
“I think they really think that money goes to administrators and promises go to professors,” Ramsey said.
