By Aunjolay Lambert |Staff Writer|
Knowing that the strike is so close to becoming reality makes me feel uneasy, but I do think CSU faculty should vote to strike. The faculty and staff are the heart and soul of the CSU campuses and without them it would be next to impossible to run CSU universities.
Why aren’t their needs being met? Increasing student fees, tuition and denying faculty members a pay raise while the CSU Chancellor is approved a salary “supplement” is not what most students and faculty members want to hear.
The California Faculty Association (CFA) is the union that represents 24,000 CSU employees who will either approve or decline a sequence of strikes which could happen on CSU campuses.
According to Fog City Journal, CFA members have been working without contracts since the middle of 2010 and haven’t received pay raises since 2007.
Members of the CFA are concerned about the situation and are in the process of approving a strike. I believe the students of CSUSB would agree with me and support our staff and encourage them to strike.
Since our fees and tuition are going up, I’m sure that our staff would be subjected to some kind of cut backs due to the budget cuts.
What I’m still trying to understand is that as reported in The Huffington Post, Chancellor Reed received a “supplement” to his salary, but faculty members haven’t received a raise since June 2008 according to the CFA website.
The only way the strike may happen is if Chancellor Reed rejects the suggestion of a neutral fact finder and imposes a contract for CSU employees, according to 89.3 KPCC.
I find it unfair to know that the person who will make the decision is also the person who doesn’t have to worry about a decreasing salary.
I think that raising salaries should be a no brainer. What I also find to be unfair is that for the faculty members, it may take more than four years for them to receive a raise.
After talking to students around CSUSB about the CFA strike, most were shocked about the “supplement” that was given to Chancellor Reed. “He gets a raise but the faculty and students have to suffer,” said student Tyneshia Thompson.
“I support the strike, because if there aren’t any professors then who will teach us?” said student Brandon Young.
The faculty members are only asking for a one percent pay increase, according to the San Fransisco Chronicle. The faculty is doing a good job sending a strong message that something needs to change, and a fair contract should be the solution.
Afterall, the CSU Board of Trustees didn’t hesitate to give Chancellor Reed a salary “supplement.” Why not give our faculty what they deserve?