THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1999

CSU leaders impose terms

By Matthew L. Green

On-Line Forty-Niner

Faculty members must take it, whether they like it or not.

In a decision that may lead to a strike, a Board of Trustees labor committee Tuesday imposed working conditions on the California State University faculty.

Through a 7-0 vote, the committee approved a resolution that includes less benefits than the tentative agreement reached Jan. 26.

The new resolution offers a 2.5 percent across-the-board pay raise, 0.5 percent less than the tentative deal.

"We expected they [CSU] would eventually impose the contract," said Hamdi Bilici, California Faculty Association president at Cal State Long Beach. "They don't want to negotiate, they want to litigate."

He said the CSU never seriously tried to negotiate for a fair contract.

Committee members approved the resolution because they wanted to give the faculty a raise, something long overdue, said Chancellor Charles Reed, a supporter of the decision.

Reed said the tug of war between CSU and the CFA has caused a massive slowdown in approval of a raise.

"If he [Reed] wanted to give us the raise, he could have given us the money just like that [a year ago]," Bilici said.

The raise is retroactive to Oct. 1, 1998, but not July 1, 1998 as the union faculty had wanted. The faculty has not received a raise since July 1, 1997.

The CFA has not planned to strike yet, Bilici said.

In late February, 57 percent of voting CFA members voted against the contract. Nine campuses accepted the deal, while 13, including CSULB, rejected it.

About 38 percent of all CSU faculty members are in the CFA, with half of all CSU tenured faculty belonging to the association.

The CSU believed job actions, like strikes and picketing, would pull teachers from their classes and away from their students.

"I sincerely hope that does not happen," Reed said. "Serving students, I think, has to be No.1. [I hope] this collective-bargaining business does not interfere with our regular business on campus, which is to focus on scholarship and service."

At meetings, CFA members have discussed how their actions would affect students, Bilici said.

"We [faculty] have to educate the public about the labor dispute [by protesting in public]," Bilici said. "At the same time, we have to educate the students."

Some faculty members shook their heads as Reed answered questions at a conference after the meeting.

G. Nanjundappa was one of them.

Said Nanjundappa, CFA president at Cal State Fullerton, "They want to play power games."