The deal falls short of the 12 percent general salary increase the union sought for this academic year and instead provides a retroactive 5 percent raise to July 1, 2023 — consistent with what Cal State leaders were offering for the past several months.
The deal also provides a 5 percent salary increase starting July 1, 2024 for all 29,000 faculty — contingent on Cal State receiving at least the same amount of state funding lawmakers and the governor approved last summer. That’s a shift for Cal State officials — previously, they only wanted to offer a 5 percent raise next year if the state increased funding to the university.
“We’re messaging this as 10 percent in the next six months,” said Kevin Wehr, chair of the faculty union’s bargaining committee and a professor at Sacramento State.
The faculty union represents 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, sports coaches and mental health professionals.
Cal State officials argued since the fall they couldn’t afford the 12 percent raise the union sought. Also, the contracts it signed with other employee unions last year raised wages by 5 percent. Some of those contracts had provisions that would reopen salary negotiations if any other union received more than a 5 percent raise.
Cal State said last fall that every 1 percent raise in salary for faculty costs the system at least $26.5 million annually.
“The agreement enables the CSU to fairly compensate its valued, world-class faculty while protecting the university system’s long-term financial sustainability,” said Cal State Chancellor Mildred García in a statement.
The California Faculty Association is asking for 12 percent raises this fiscal year, plus other other benefits, like extended parental leave and higher minimum salaries for the lowest-paid workers. But the 5 percent is an amount other employee unions in the system accepted last year as Cal State fought to stave off an even larger labor walk off. From Cal State’s perspective, its latest and final offer concludes contract negotiations. For the faculty union, it reaffirms its plans, broadcast in December, to strike in late January.
“Management’s imposition gives us no other option but to continue to move forward with our plan for a systemwide strike,” the faculty union told its members Monday afternoon. Planning to join the faculty union on the picket lines is the smaller Teamsters Local 2010, a labor group of 1,100 skilled maintenance workers.
The whiplash in messaging — raises on one hand but a vow to strike in pursuit of higher pay and benefits — is yet another flare-up in the months-long standoff between leaders of the nation’s largest public four-year university, home to more than 400,000 students, and the faculty union that represents 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches. The union had already staged strikes at four campuses in December, cutting off instruction a week before the start of students’ final exams.
The university’s decision also precedes the Jan. 10 unveiling of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s spending plan for 2024-25. He’s expected to spell out the state’s deep budget hole, which one analysis says will be a $68 billion deficit.
This is the job that awaits Mildred García, who was named chancellor of the California State University today.
García, a former CSU president, will oversee the nation’s largest four-year public university system and its nearly 500,000 students at a time when public confidence in the value of a bachelor’s degree is at a nadir.
She’ll begin her post Oct. 1.
One more challenge to overcome? Persuading more students to enroll at Cal State’s 23 campuses as the system is beset by an enrollment decline that’s also upending its finances.
“I am honored, humbled and excited for this opportunity to serve the nation’s largest four-year university system and work alongside its dedicated leaders, faculty and staff, and its talented and diverse students to further student achievement, close equity gaps and continue to drive California’s economic prosperity,” she said in a statement.
García, who’ll become the first Latina chancellor in the system’s 63-year history, led Cal State Fullerton from 2012 to 2018 and Cal State Dominguez Hills from 2007 to 2012. At Dominguez Hills, she became the system’s first Latina president.
She left her post at Fullerton to lead a national association representing 350 public colleges and universities, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, where she’s remained since. Among the association’s members are all 23 Cal State campuses and one University of California campus, UC Merced.
While at Cal State Fullerton, García oversaw a rapid rise in graduation rates:
During her tenure, Cal State Fullerton’s six-year graduation rate actually surpassed the systemwide average after being nearly identical when she took over as president.
The six-year graduation rate gap between racial and ethnic groups also narrowed some while she was president. For example, between 2012 and 2018:
The institution on Thursday published its proposal to begin raising undergraduate and graduate school tuition by 6 percent annually starting in the fall 2024 academic year.
For undergraduates, that would mean an increase of $342 in the first year. However, nearly 60 percent of Cal State’s students would be unaffected by the tuition hikes because they receive state financial aid.
Tuition for those who pay it would rise steadily, from $6,084 in the first year of the hike to $7,682 by 2028-29.
The series of hikes has no end-date; instead, the proposal said Cal State leaders would re-assess the plan after five years.
The system’s Board of Trustees will hear the sweeping proposal at the upcoming July 11 meeting, and, according to the agenda, vote on whether to approve the tuition increases in September. Board members could choose to change the policy or delay the vote, as is their general right.
If approved, Cal State will launch itself into a new era that’s a stark departure from the past 11 years, in which it raised tuition only once.