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CFA ponders strike
terms
By Jeanne Hoffa
On-line Forty-Niner
When English professor
Tim Caron walked into his American literature class at Cal
State Long Beach Thursday, he said his students' had suddenly
lost their interest in Toni Morrison's "Beloved."
All they wanted to know was if there was any truth to the
newspaper reports of a possible teachers' strike.
"My students wanted to know, 'Will it delay my graduation?
Will I lose classroom time?'" Caron said at the California
Faculty Association job action committee meeting Thursday.
"'If I have a job that starts, [upon graduation] should
I change my plans?'"
A CFA strike would not necessarily mean picket lines, empty
classrooms and blocked entrances to the university, said Cal
State Long Beach CFA President Martin Fiebert.
"A strike may mean a one-day event, a consensus to support
coming issues, or maybe even a rally," said Fiebert,
in response to members' fears that they will have to desert
students, lose pay or maybe even lose their jobs. "Maybe
a strike would be just a state of mind," Fiebert said,
noting that members get input on the strike conditions, to
be written into the CFA ballot, if they decide to strike.
The board of the CFA will meet at the Los Angeles Sheraton
Dec. 7 and 8 to develop the wording to go on the ballot.
Meanwhile a fact-finding team is being assembled in the negotiations
process to reevaluate all sides of the issues: one will represent
CFA, one the administration and the third will be neutral.
Past fact-finding committees have found in favor of the CFA,
Fiebert said. The process is expected to take one to two months.
The Chancellor's Office had offered a 5.6 percent raise, but
after the economic turndown caused by California's energy
crisis and the Sept. 11 attacks, it was withdrawn. Members
accused Charles Reed of taking advantage of the downturn to
wedge the CFA out of even modest demands.
"They're making this all about money, like we're greedy,"
said Elizabeth Hoffman, the CSULB representative to the delegate
assembly. "Teachers don't go into this for money. We're
just asking for rights, for basic benefits, like acceptable
terms for maternity leave. We don't want to hurt the state
in a time of crisis."
In response to the crisis, the CFA lowered their demands from
a 6.5 percent general salary increase, to 2.6 percent, with
three specific requests:
* Give counselors
parity wages. Those who work in student counseling centers
are paid lower salaries than professors even though they generally
have similar educational backgrounds, and equally lengthy
careers, said Fiebert. The CFA wants their salaries to equal
professors and lecturers.
* Supply department
chairs stipends. Faculty bargaining units work longer hours,
and more months of the academic year, according to CFA officials,
who want them duly compensated.
* Provide salary
step increases (SSIs) for junior faculty. CFA President Susan
Meisenhelder said newer faculty members are hardest hit by
skyrocketing housing costs, and must be included in salary
and benefit agreements.
After Gov. Gray Davis asked the entire California State University
system to slash one percent from its $3.4 billion budget,
the CSU offered a 2 percent general salary increase, while
contract talks are extended.
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