The California Faculty Association (CFA) is executing a planned strike at California State University (CSU) campuses at Dominguez Hills and Easy Bay campuses Thursday. The protests, which began in the early morning and are expected to go into the evening, come just one day after a 9 percent tuition increase voted on by the CSU Board of Trustees.
The strike was voted on in early November by CFA members, and passed with more than 90 percent of voting members’ approval. Though CFA has been working without a contract since 2010, they can legally only strike against the fact that raises guaranteed under their old contract were not honored.
CSU spokesperson Erik Fallis said in an interview with the Mustang Daily last month the raises were not honored due to budget cuts in education.
Architectural engineering professor Jill Nelson, who made the trip to CSU Dominguez Hills on a CFA sponsored charter bus along with five other professors, worked for 30 years in the private sector before coming to Cal Poly. She said this is the first time she has not received a raise in four years.
San Luis Obispo chapter president Glen Thorncroft said the turnout from Cal Poly faculty was fairly expected, due to San Luis Obispo’s distance from both campuses.
“It’s a 12-hour commitment,” Thorncroft said. “And they want to minimize the impact on their students as much as possible.”
San Luis Obispo chapter treasurer Jere Ramsey said due to the strike’s proximity to the Board of Trustees’ 9 percent tuition increase, part of the focus of the strike has shifted from faculty pay raises to students’ concerns.
“We’re striking about our inability, or the threat to our ability, to provide quality education to students,” CFA president Lillian Taiz said.
This article was written by Sean McMinn.
Carrying a sign that indicates you’re as stupid as the Occupy Wallstreet crowd is not a very good way to justify better compensation.
It is absolutely criminal that these board members pay themselves so well and treat the students and teachers so poorly. Any other industry would fail if they treated their clients like this. This is all the fault of government regulation, if they government didn’t supplement education with easy to get loans (just like the housing market) then schools would have to compete with each other to keep their costs down to attract more students.
Shame on the CSU board of directors for continuing to raise fees with no end in sight, this is absolutely ridiculous I am so glad to be graduating this year. Tuition will be more than $3000 per quarter in the fall, possibly $160 more thanks to Armstrong’s new proposal (http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/11/17/1839839/cal-poly-president-defends-proposed.html)
Where is the justification for these increases? We are in the middle of the recession, absolutely unnecessary to build a new $5 million dollar gym or a $132 million dollar math and science center. Those 42″ LCD TV’s in all the campus dining locations sure are useful for displaying menus! Sure the money was already set aside for these but was it really a great idea to start building this shit when the state of California is bankrupt beyond hope with no plan to fix it? This is class warfare at it’s finest and another strike against the middle class.
Absolutely pathetic and disgusting
Note to mysterious bobby regarding your comments:
…It is absolutely criminal that these board members pay themselves so well and treat the students and teachers so poorly. Any other industry would fail if they treated their clients like this…
Let’s get real here. The students and faculty are treated extremely well. What’s the best evidence? Applications to Cal Poly remain at or near an all-time high. If students are treated poorly, the line to get in doesn’t exist. Further, nobody would want to become a professor but that isn’t the case either. Qualified applicants are dying for the jobs.
If you’re treated so poorly, just quit. That’s what’s so great about working in a state that supports “at will” employment. You can walk away any time. No harm. No foul.
Then, go get a job in the private sector. Guess what you’ll find! You’ll lose your lifetime Cadillac health care plan. You’ll have to pay virtually 100% of your own retirement. You’ll need to work until 67 to receive scraps from social security. You won’t be seeing yearly cost of living adjustments to your pension.
Another note. If you are a faculty member. Get educated.
The monies spent on the gym were voted on by the students. NOTHING comes from the state. Therefore, nothing is being taken away from your precious salary, pension and benefits.