CSU, faculty stall on contracts

By Ana Tintocalis, On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, September 21, 1998

With concerned faces and attentive ears, Cal State Long Beach faculty members listened patiently and cautiously about their futures under the California State University system at a California Faculty Association meeting on Thursday.

CFA members learned their futures do not look too bright - the CSU and the CFA are not much closer to a new contract now than they were last spring.

Since the end of last month, the CSU administration agreed to extend the CFA's old contract, which expired July 1, in order to draft a new contract that would change aspects concerning such issues as a general salary increase, merit pay and an early retirement program.

Both sides have tried negotiating a fair settlement concerning these issues, but CSU and CFA negotiators have declared an impasse that has thrown the deliberations into mediation.

At Thursday's meeting, CFA General Manager Gerie Bledsoe addressed the faculty about where things stand now.

"It doesn't look like we're going back to the table to bargain very soon," Bledsoe said. "That's unfortunate. We want to settle this soon."

Bledsoe said that the most pressing issue is the general salary increase that would apply to all levels within the CSU system.

The CSU administration has offered a 5 percent increase, while the CFA is requesting a 6 percent increase.

"There were three years when the faculty didn't get a raise," Bledsoe said. "We're way behind."

The California Post Secondary Education Commission conducted a study that showed that faculty salaries within the CSU system are 11 percent lower than faculty salaries at 20 other universities.

In order to close that gap, the CSU administration would have to give faculty an 11 percent raise, which does not seem likely to happen soon.

Many CFA members consider the CSU's proposed general salary increase an insult.

"We want a fair contract because our big concern is students," English lecturer Elizabeth Hoffman said. "I would like to see a fair raise. The faculty would have morale and they'd get back to teaching."

Other key issues that the CSU and the CFA have been unable to agree on is merit pay and the Faculty Early Retirement Program.

Under the old contract, merit pay was a system in which a salary raise was granted by the CSU administration to a faculty member based on their work and achievements.

CFA has proposed that the new contract should put merit pay decisions "in the hands of the faculty at the department level."

It believes peer-review committees would provide due process, reasoned judgment and strong department voices.

The CFA also wants to continue the FERP program under the new contract, which would allow an instructor to retire at an earlier time.

The CSU administration says it would like to reduce the number of years an instructor is able to retire, as well as limit leaves. The association is opposed to the CSU's proposal and does not want to substantially reduce or limit any aspects of FERP.

"It's not like the faculty in the CFA are disgruntled employees," said Lisa Belsanti, a CFA organizer. "They don't ask for much. But the leadership of the CFA has said enough is enough. We have to put our necks out on the line or else it's never going to get any better."

Does this mean the CSU may see a faculty strike in its future? CFA officials say it is not likely.

"There is always a possibility of some type of job action," Bledsoe said. "There's good relations at CSULB between the faculty and the administration generally."

CSU and CFA negotiations will resume Oct. 2.