Faculty protests contracts

By Ana Tintocalis, Online Forty-Niner

Wednesday, November 18, 1998

Cal State Long Beach faculty members caught the attention of morning commuters who whizzed by the corner of Seventh Street and West Campus Drive Tuesday morning as they held their first on-campus demonstration to protest the stalled contract negotiations between the California Faculty Association and the California State University administration.

But CSULB was not the only university where the faculty publicly displayed its dissatisfaction with the CSU.

Demonstrations were held at all of the 22 CSU campuses yesterday as part of a statewide protest coordinated by the CFA.

"It's time to show our solidarity with the other 21 campuses," said Hamdi Bilici, CFA president for CSULB. "Even though we don't have any gripes with the administration at this university, we do have statewide gripes with the CSU administration because we are working without a contract."

More than a dozen CFA members from CSULB braved the chilly morning and participated in the picket line before or in between their classes.

With no agreement in sight for a new contract, CFA members hope such aggressive job action will generate support from the public concerning their situation.

"We're looking for support from other working people who understand what its like to work and not be paid equitably and not be respected," Susan Luevano-Molina said, a CSULB library staff member. "We want the public to try and understand what our issues are about."

Since July, the CSU administration agreed to extend the CFA's old expired contract in order to draft a new contract that would address such issues as a general salary increase, merit pay and an early retirement program.

Both sides have tried negotiating a fair settlement, but the CFA and the CSU remain divided on many of these key issues.

"The faculty is concerned about getting a good contract so we can deliver good quality education," English instructor Elizabeth Hoffman said. "We're concerned about our students. We're doing this so we don't hurt any students."

There will be a bigger push for more types of job action such as picketing until the CSU begins to bargain in good faith, Bilici said.

CSU chancellor Charles Reed contends that recent action taken by faculty members at the universities are a small group of activists within the CFA.

CSU administrative officials say they are working to reach a fair agreement and would like to see CFA members concentrate their efforts at the bargaining table.

The CFA has exhausted all other means of negotiating and believes job actions need to be taken for its demands to be met, Bilici said.