The California State University (CSU) will be providing regular updates during the strike. All CSU campuses are open during the strike. We respect the rights of the faculty union and their members to engage in strike activity and remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the California Faculty Association (CFA) for the sake of our students, faculty, the system and the state.
The parties were in communication with each other over the weekend. We will not discuss any details of those communications.
As you may have already seen, the CSU has reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters Local 2010 on a three-year contract. The agreement covers 1,100 skilled trades employees across 22 of the CSU's 23 campuses. Teamsters members are not participating in the faculty union's strike. The agreement must be ratified by the union membership and will be brought to the CSU Board of Trustees for approval at its March 2024 meeting. We are hopeful we can also reach an agreement with the CFA soon.
Meanwhile, there still remains misinformation about the status of classes. Again, classes are not canceled. Individual faculty members who decide to strike will cancel their own classes. Students should check their class portals or contact their professors to find out whether they intend to hold class this week. If students have not heard from their instructor that their class is canceled, they should assume that it is being held as scheduled and go to class. There have been no changes to the published spring academic calendar, and the strike will not interfere with students' ability to complete their courses and graduate on time.
People coming to campus should expect to see picket lines and may experience traffic delays, but access to campus will be maintained and offices and facilities will be open to provide services and resources to students to help them prepare for the new semester.
There have been questions about what the CSU has offered the CFA.
- The CSU has offered the faculty union a 15% raise over three years (a 5% raise each year).
- The CSU has offered the faculty union two additional weeks of paid parental leave (currently 6 weeks, we have offered 8 weeks).
- The CSU has offered to accept 13 of the independent factfinder's 15 recommendations. This includes the factfinder's comments on paid leave, department chair pay, gender-inclusive restrooms, and counselors and other key items.
The CFA's demand for a 12% raise would cost $312 million just this year. Their other economic demands, such as life insurance increases and raising the minimum pay add up to another $68 million, for a total of $380 million. This is financially unrealistic. Their request far surpasses the state funding increase that the CSU received in last year's state budget ($227 million) and is more than the entire budget of Cal Poly Pomona ($369 million).
The CSU remains committed to supporting our students and entering into labor agreements that do not result in cuts to the academic and student supportive programs that make the CSU the most diverse and transformative university system in the nation.
We will continue to provide regular updates.
About the California State University
The California State University is the nation's largest four-year public university system, providing transformational opportunities for upward mobility to more than 450,000 students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. More than half of CSU students are people of color, and nearly one-third of them are first-generation college students. Because the CSU's 23 universities provide a high-quality education at an incredible value, they are rated among the best in the nation for promoting social mobility in national college rankings from U.S. News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Monthly. The CSU powers California and the nation, sending nearly 127,000 career-ready graduates into the workforce each year. In fact, one in every 20 Americans holding a college degree earned it at the CSU. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU newsroom.