Statement in Support of striking colleagues at CSU Dominguez Hills and East Bay

On November 17, 2011, the California Faculty Association, which represents over 20,000 tenure-track and contingent faculty at 23 California State University campuses, will stage one-day strikes at CSU East Bay and CSU Dominguez Hills.

In 2008-09 and 2009-10, California State University faculty were denied contractually guaranteed salary increases because of the state’s ongoing budget crisis.  Two independent fact-finders agreed with CFA that the CSU has the resources to pay portions of these increases that were designed to reduce salary disparities among faculty, but the CSU has refused. However, the strikes take place in the context of ongoing bargaining for a new contract, in which the CSU has rebuffed even modest salary and workload proposals, while pursuing a series of “take-backs,” including an assault on the system of three-year contracts for long-term contingent faculty.

The Riverside Faculty Association, an affiliate of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, hereby records its support for CFA’s strike action.  We believe the real underlying issues in the CSU and the UC concern the very future of public higher education in California, and we declare our solidarity with our colleagues at CSU.