CSU faculty authorizes strike — a move that eventually could affect more than 400,000 students

Faculty members at California State University have voted to authorize a strike, demanding a new deal with increased pay, lower class sizes, and more manageable workloads for staff across the university system’s 23 campuses.

The authorization came Monday after a 95% vote from those in the California Faculty Association, a union representing 29,000 faculty, lecturers, librarians and counselors at CSU.

But that doesn’t mean a walkout is imminent.

The faculty’s demands will now be brought to the university’s chancellor, Mildred Garcia, at the CSU board of trustees meeting on Nov. 7.

“We are willing to withhold our labor if CSU management continues to say no to investing their money where it matters: the people who are directly responsible for student learning and success,” said Charles Toombs, the president of the California Faculty Association, in a video released by the union Monday night.

Central to their demands are wage increases, including one that would bump salaries by 12% and raise the floor for the union’s lowest paid staff. The CFA is also asking for more counselors on CSU campuses to support students’ mental health, expanded paid parental leave, accessible lactation and milk storage spaces for faculty, the addition of gender-inclusive restrooms on campuses, and increased safety provisions for faculty interacting with university police.

Hazel Kelly, CSU’s communications manager, said the strike authorization vote was not a surprise. In a statement from the university, Kelly shared that such a tactic has “now become a routine part of CFA’s post-impasse negotiation strategy,” and “does not guarantee CFA members will go on strike.”

“The CSU remains committed to the collective bargaining process and reaching a negotiated agreement with the CFA as we have done with five of our other employee unions in recent weeks,” the CSU statement said.

In September, the university system voted to raise tuition by 6% annually over the next five years, an increase that is expected to generate $840 million during that time frame. But that change came after more than a decade of flat tuition, and in an attempt to narrow a $1.5 billion funding gap across all 23 campuses.

The funding gap was first identified by a university working group this past May, which found that the system only had enough money to pay for about 85% of the costs for CSU’s education, institutional and academic support, along with services for students.

Despite that, a financial analysis commissioned by the faculty union found that the university system was “in a very strong financial position,” supported by both a high level of cash reserves and annual operating surpluses. Steven Filling, a professor of accounting at Cal State Stanislaus and CFA’s political action and legislation chair, said the $1.5 billion funding gap is more of a “doom and gloom projection” than reality — and that in recent years, the university system has been “taking in more than it’s been taking out.”

“The CSU has been hoarding billions of dollars in reserves instead of investing in faculty and staff who work directly with our students,” said the union in a statement. “Budgets are moral documents, and our members are holding CSU management accountable.”

Kelly denied that claim, and said the university system has $733 million in reserves earmarked for “operating expenses for economic uncertainty,” a figure that equates to 33 days of operation across the 23 campuses.

“Drawing on reserves to fund recurring expenses such as salary increases can lead to structural deficits and is not a sustainable alternative to using state funding or student tuition to support our ongoing educational mission for students,” Kelly said.