I choose to believe that Kos will not actually ban every single Bernie diary or Bernie supporter when March 15 gets here. But just in case, I want to get this under the deadline.
The California Faculty Association, the union that represents professors and other teaching faculty at the California State University system, has been trying to negotiate for salary increases. To give you some idea of the history, we have just about never gotten any kind of raise or increase without some kind of action. We haven't received any SSIs (Step Salary Increases) since 2008. This leads to what's called compression and inversion, in which faculty with more experience wind up actually being paid less than their junior colleagues who were hired later. You can see the whole miserable process in a four-part series called “Race To The Bottom.” More about our situation and the strike under the break.
There was an entire year during the great recession during which we took "voluntary" furloughs, which amounted to a 10% pay cut. When the economy recovered, our salaries did not. The average salary for a tenure track CSU faculty member is $63,000—and remember that this is in a state in which cost-of-living tends to be very high. More and more, tenure-track and tenured faculty are being replaced with poorly paid adjuncts with little job security and big student loans. Some even have to rely on some form of public assistance just to make ends meet, which is one reason why some have called this the Walmartization of the public university. We’ve had horror stories, including one faculty member who couldn’t afford to bury her husband. Our purchasing power has actually gone down since 2004. Contrast that with the salary of Chancellor Tim White, who makes a salary that is larger than that of the President of the United States. Here's another great article about this.
In the fall, CFA members, who comprise 80% of the total faculty in the University system, voted overwhelmingly (94%) to go on strike if negotiations and fact-finding didn't resolve the issue. Instead, the management is offering the same 2% that they consider adequate for themselves, not considering that 2% of what we earn is a whole lot less than 2% of what they earn, especially since we do not get a 60,000 a year housing allowance and a 12,000 a year car allowance. Moreover, the management is considering raising tuition. So the faculty are feeling the bite and so are the students, while more and more top-level administrators are hired. We're going through fact-finding right now, and since we anticipate that the administration will continue to be intractable, we've scheduled a strike of all 23 campuses in mid April. You can see our FAQ here.
This strike, if and when it happens, is going to be gigantic. There are 23,000 CFA members. We’ve received strike sanctions from a number of other unions, including the Teamsters. We’ve also received letters of support from a number of politicians and from the California Democratic Party. You can see the details here. There will be picket lines around 23 campuses, and many unions will refuse to cross our picket lines.
Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders, both of you have been endorsed by unions and teachers’ organizations. Both of you have stated your commitment to workers. Will you make official statements or write letters on our behalf? A word from you might encourage the administration to settle so that a strike does not need to take place. If the strike does take place, will you join us on the picket line? Which side are you on?
Sincerely,
A CSU professor, CFA member, voting Democratic since 1984.
Please feel free to pass this on, and let me know if I need to make any corrections.