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news
With talks over,
CFA strike looms
By Greg Smith
On-line Forty-Niner
With the mediation
phase of the California Faculty Association's bargaining with
California State University administration at an end Tuesday,
the Long Beach chapter of CFA will hold a campuswide discussion
Thursday to determine how faculty members feel about possible
job action next year.
In October, the
CFA Fall Assembly, consisting of delegates from all 22 CSU
campuses, voted unanimously to ask CFA officers and the Board
of Directors to prepare ballots and election procedures for
a strike authorization vote at their December meeting. Marty
Fiebert, president of the Long Beach chapter of CFA, called
a meeting of all faculty members Thursday to discuss the possibility
of a strike.
"We want to
see what kind of perspective there is on this campus,"
Fiebert said.
Fiebert emphasized
a strike wouldn't occur immediately and the possibility is
still in the feeling out stages.
According to outside
polling figures e-mailed by Fiebert to CSULB faculty members,
9 percent of faculty members approve of the job Chancellor
Charles B. Reed is doing while 75 percent approve of the CFA's
work. The poll also found that 65 percent of faculty, including
44 percent of fee payers, showed a willingness to strike if
bargaining fails and strike preparations are carefully made.
CFA's collective
bargaining with CSU administration is set to enter the fact-finding
stage where three fact-finders will go over the bargaining
so far and write a report suggesting how the problem can be
solved.
"The problem
is that if the fact-finders give a report to Chancellor Reed
that he doesn't like, then he can reject it," Fiebert
said.
According to Fiebert,
any strike or job action will only occur after the fact-finding
is complete.
"This has
to be one of the options we have," he said, adding, "the
sentiment in CFA is resolution."
The CFA recently
lowered their compensation request in the new contract from
6.4 percent to 2.6 percent due to budget cuts, Fiebert said.
CSU administration is offering a 2 percent raise. CFA has
many non-compensation issues on the bargaining table as well.
Fiebert also said
if a strike occurs it does not necessarily mean there will
be walkouts.
"The thought
is to protect students," Fiebert said.
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