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CFA discouraged with tentative agreement Kristin Carmichael Senior Writer After bargaining for about a year, the California Faculty Association and the California State University system inched closer to creating a new faculty contract agreement. But if the CFA does not accept the tentative agreement by Feb. 28, it could mean a strike. "The CFA will not rest until we get equity and justice for the faculty," said Terry Jones, president of the CFA. Since Feb. 12, 1998, the CFA has struggled with the CSU to come up with an agreement that fits both parties' needs. And after several drafts, the CFA still isn't completely satisfied. The union is lobbying for an increase and equal distribution of salary including salary step increases for part-time faculty and merit pay. Jones said there is an 11.4 percent salary gap between CSU faculty and faculty of similar institutions. The salaries under examination include a broad spectrum of staff including coaches, counselors and librarians. But members of the CSU administration think the CFA has already placed itself in a good position. "The faculty should be pleased with the agreement, and I hope it will be ratified," said Sam Strafaci, the chief CSU negotiator and senior director of human resources. "There's something in it for everybody." Still, members of the CFA are skeptical. "There's a significant amount of ambiguous wording and differing conceptions of what the language says," said Greg Tropea, member of the bargaining team for CFA and lecturer at Chico State University. "I think [Strafaci] is right that there's something in it for everyone, but how significant those somethings are is a matter of interpretation. And whether the positives outweigh the negatives is something to be demonstrated." Tropea described the report as being hastily prepared and Irv Schiffman, president of the Chico chapter for CFA, was quick to agree. "The agreement was reached under great pressure and in a very sharp time constraint," Schiffman said. After several unsuccessful mediations between the CFA and CSU, Chancellor Charles Reed threatened to impose his own terms of employment if the two parties did not reconcile. Terms that Schiffman said would not have benefited the faculty. Under the circumstances, Strafaci said he was impressed with the way the CFA responded to its members' needs. "The union did a marvelous job and secured additional benefits for many of their people," he said. Some of the highlights in the tentative agreement include a 3 percent general salary increase for all faculty, a 2.4 percent salary step increase for newer faculty and part-time lecturers, increasing maternity/paternity leave and giving individual departments, rather than the university, more power in deciding how to allocate merit pay. Schiffman said the CFA was pleased with a number of issues resolved in the tentative agreement, but the CFA would not have signed the contract had the CSU not agreed to modify some of the provisions in the report. If the agreement is not ratified and the CFA members do strike, Jones said students' educations will not be jeopardized. The faculty would most likely work under protest. "We're in the business of helping students not hurting them," he said. Tropea agreed. He said, "The CSU faculty will maintain service to students no matter what. But when it comes to administration and members of the Board of Trustees, that's a different story." Greg Bard, Associated Students director for university affairs, has been proactive in supporting the CFA, but encourages other students to support either party involved. "If we support them, they'll support us," he said. "We should do everything we can to bring our faculty up to par with other institutions." The ultimate decision belongs to the union itself. "It's time for the members to advise us as far as what they want to do," Jones said. "I think we'll have a full, vigorous, frank debate on these issues." Copyright ©1999 The Orion | |||||||||||||||||||
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