The following was provided by the California State University Labor Relations office.

The California State University (CSU) and the California Faculty Association (CFA) have been meeting and negotiating for the past 9 months to reach an agreement on a successor contract. To date, the CSU and CFA have spent 30 days at the table. As part of those bargaining sessions, the parties have reached tentative agreement on a significant number of items. During the most recent round of negotiations on August 18 and 19, the CSU made a comprehensive proposal on all open items in an attempt to reach agreement. Despite CSU’s comprehensive proposal, the two sides were unable to yet finalize a three-year successor contract. The two major unresolved areas are salary and workload. The CSU’s proposals on these two issues are available on the Labor Relations webpage. 

As the CSU bargaining team explained to CFA at the table, CSU believes that its salary proposal (which is described in more detail below) represents significant and immediate salary relief to all CSU faculty, and compares favorably with what is being negotiated with other state employee groups. 

During negotiations, CSU acknowledged that the past several years have been difficult for all our valued employees, including faculty. CSU committed to taking all reasonable steps to address compensation in a way that emphasizes the value and importance of faculty and staff to our educational mission. That said, CSU also explained that, despite an improving economy, CSU resources remain limited and constrained as the state continues to recover from the effects of the global recession. In the 2014-15 state budget, the CSU received $95 million less than requested from the governor and Legislature to address CSU facilities, education and employee compensation needs. The CSU bargaining team also explained that, despite this significant shortfall, the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees decided to allocate $91.6 million (or 64.4%) of the available $142.2 million in new state revenues to employee compensation, including a proposed $46 million specifically for faculty. Prioritizing employee compensation means less money will be available to support other mission-critical areas, such as funded enrollment growth, student success initiatives and deferred maintenance. As explained at the table, CSU is taking this significant stance – prioritizing employee compensation above other critical areas – in recognition of the value of CSU employees and in anticipation of utilizing a three-year commitment of continued compensation increases to develop a relationship of trust and cooperation with our employees. 

In proposing its comprehensive global settlement offer at the table last week, CSU explained to CFA that the CSU proposal includes the following provisions relating to salary and workload: 

• Guarantees a compensation pool increase that totals 3% of the compensation base for 2014/2015; 2% for 2015/2016; and 2% for 2016/17. The CSU is offering to guarantee $110 million for faculty salary increases over the next three years. Taking into account last year’s salary increase of 1.34%, faculty pay would increase by an average of 8.34% over a four-year period. 

• Guarantees full compensation funding over the life of the Agreement. CSU will commit to paying the proposed increases regardless of any shortfalls in state funding. Unlike the 2007-2010 Agreement, these increases would not be contingent on fluctuations in state appropriations. 

• Provides a minimum 4.81% increase in the first year alone (retroactive to July 1, 2014) for all temporary faculty with three-year appointments.

• Provides a minimum 4.81% increase in the first year alone (retroactive to July 1, 2014) for all tenure-track faculty with salaries below the Service Salary Increase maximums. 

• Provides $3.2 million for range adjustments for temporary faculty, including the elimination of Range “L,” and minimum salaries for lecturers with terminal degrees. 

• Provides campuses with the express authority to develop further equity programs, following consultation with CFA on procedures and criteria to be used in determining the distribution of such awards. 

• Provides an additional pool of $12 million dollars over the life of the Agreement to fund teaching release time for probationary faculty, and for faculty with exceptional instructional or service commitments. 

At the conclusion of bargaining on August 18, CFA and CSU agreed to further extension of the existing contract until September 30, 2014. As the CSU bargaining team explained to CFA, CSU believes that its comprehensive proposal is both strong and employee-centered. In dedicating significant and disproportionate resources to employee compensation, CSU has put employees first in budget and resource priorities to the fullest extent possible. It is CSU’s hope that doing so demonstrates CSU’s good faith and intent to reach a mutually-beneficial multi-year agreement that will allow CSU and all its employees, including faculty, to focus on student success and learning. CSU is waiting for CFA to complete the consultative process and looks forward to scheduling further meetings for September.