The California State University system last Wednesday rejected a proposal from the California Faculty Association that called for a 5 percent General Salary Increase for the coming academic year.
The CSU had slotted a 2 percent salary increase for all employees into its latest state budget, representing $65.5 million. According to the CSU, a 5 percent increase would call for an additional $69 million for Cal State faculty.
“Despite the past several lean budget years, we continue to try to improve compensation for all employees, said Toni Molle, the director of public affairs for the CSU, via email. “We agree that faculty should be properly compensated for their service and contribution to our students. We are doing what we can, within our fiscal means, to address compensation concerns.”
Last week, the CSU Board of Trustees approved the 2 percent salary increase for the 23 university presidents and CSU executives, a move that has been criticized by the CFA.
“It is not lost on us that a 2 percent pay increase for a president earning in excess of $400,000 equals $8,000, while a 2 percent raise for a faculty member earning $40,000 is $800. Don’t kid yourself,” said Lillian Taiz, a member of the CFA bargaining team, in a release. “There is no similarity here.”
The CSU and CFA bargained for a 3 percent General Salary Increase for the 2014-15 academic year. That agreement was reached for one-year contract. According to the CSU, the current contract being negotiated will also be a one-year deal at the request of the CFA.
The CSU currently spends 59 percent of its operating budget on its employees, Molle said. She also said that the CSU had 740 new tenure-track hires in 2014-15 and expects to hire another 800 this year.
The average salary for CSU faculty is $45,000 per year, according to the CFA.
“It is absolutely disheartening that Chancellor White and his management team doesn’t value the faculty enough to invest in us, and, by extension, our students,” Jennifer Eagan, the CFA president and a professor at Cal State East Bay, said in a release.
Over the last two years, the CSU spent $129.6 million in increased compensation with $65.2 million specifically for faculty, Molle said.
The CFA, in its “Race to the Bottom” series examining the CSU system, said that as of fall 2014, more than 50 percent of CSU faculty earned less than $38,000 per year.
Negotiations for the current CFA contract began in May. At the latest meeting between the CFA and CSU on July 22, both sides decided that no further progress could be made and the State Mediation and Conciliation Service would appoint a mediator, the next step according to the California Higher Education Employment Relations Act.