MARATHON CONTRACT TALKS UNDER WAY IN SAN FRANCISCO
The CFA Bargaining Team and the CSU administration today entered their second of five consecutive days of marathon talks aimed at avoiding an impasse over core contract issues of compensation, workload and faculty rights (grievances).
By prearrangement, this set of negotiations is scheduled to run through Friday in San Francisco. On Monday the two sides bargained until nearly 10 p.m. "The stakes are high and we're hopeful that we can make progress," CFA President John Travis said.
"From our standpoint, the administration at this moment is especially obliged to deal with us in good faith because the two largest unions -- CFA and CSEU, the staff union -- are now the last ones left to settle. The Trustees last week approved agreements with SUPA, the campus police union, and UAPD, the physicians and dentists, and they call for good salary increases across three years.
"Therefore, there is no longer an excuse for the administration not to address the documented gap between the pay of professors and education professionals at the CSU, and that at peer institutions."
MEDIA COVERAGE -- AND OUTRAGE -- RISE WITH THE HEAT INDEX
Statewide record-breaking temperatures and power outages were matched this week with a statewide rising tide of anger directed at the CSU's powerful after an investigative series in the San Francisco Chronicle exposed a pattern of unaccountable and meritless faculty appointments, post-retirement "transition" sinecures and other sweetheart arrangements for some of the university's top officials.
A week into the scandal, State Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez was calling for an independent audit of the CSU's spending practices. A Chronicle editorial was spanking the administration and Trustees for operating the university "without the level of public scrutiny that it both needs and deserves."
And yesterday CFA filed a Public Records Act request for documentation of pertinent CSU policies on paid leaves and tenure. CFA President Travis said the goal is to learn precisely how the university came to be doling out millions of taxpayer dollars in tenured faculty positions and random perks to numerous former campus presidents and execs.
Meanwhile, media coverage spread to every corner of California. Links to CFA news releases -- including this week's Public Records Act request and last week's call for an investigation by Attorney General Bill Lockyer -- are at http://www.calfac.org/releases.html.
The CFA "In the News" page, http://www.calfac.org/inthenews.html, has the original San Francisco Chronicle July 18 and 19 news stories and editorial, as well as the Associated Press, the Oakland Tribune and the Chico Enterprise Record. Just as fast as we can put them up, we're adding links from such places as the Sacramento Bee, the Fresno Bee, the Palm Beach Desert Sun and KERO-TV (Channel 23) in Bakersfield.
CFA members are asked to forward examples in their local media to Communications Director Alice Sunshine (asunshine@calfac.org) and to reinforce the reports with hard-hitting letters to the editor. "This is an issue opened to public scrutiny by CFA's work in calling attention to the shady deal for former CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz, which was made possible by big-business-friendly Trustee Bill Hauck," CFA Vice President Lillian Taiz said. "It is an issue that's resonating."
EMAIL CENSORSHIP AT CHICO
Susan Green, president of the CFA Chico Chapter, reports that her distribution on a faculty email discussion list of the Chico Enterprise Record account of the scandal got blocked by the campus email system administrator. The university then said this was the result of a misunderstanding and no censorship was intended, but as CFA Headlines went to press late Tuesday, Green's email somehow still had not worked its way through the ether.
Other CFA chapter presidents are investigating whether this scenario is isolated to the Chico campus or is system-wide, and the union was poised to file an unfair labor practice complaint over the incident. We hope to have the takeout on this sale of the frozen "send" key next week.
"DOMINGUEZ HILLS SOLIDARITY DAY" PRESSES RELIEF FOR UNDERSERVED CAMPUSES
The July 19 CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach was highlighted by a moving joint presentation by students, staff and faculty on the crisis at CSU Dominguez Hills.
With the system's highest number of African American students, along with a high percentage of Latinos, that campus is suffering from a $2.5 million gap caused by a quirk of budget procedures. By counting only full-time equivalent students and ignoring the needs of working part-time students -- of whom there are many at Dominguez Hills -- inflexible budgets are institutionalizing underfunding there. Advocates for Dominguez Hills seek to address the problem in the current budget with creative "mitigations" while the long-term implications are studied.
The theme of Dominguez Hills Solidarity Day, which drew CFA members and others from throughout the state, was "Keep Hope Alive -- Save the $2.5 Million." CFA Dominguez Hills Chapter President David Bradfield said the event was successful in putting the issue, which is certain to impact other campuses in the coming years, squarely in front of the Trustees.
"The student presenters, led by Maggie Gomez, did a wonderful job of walking the Trustees through what it is really like to be a student here in 2006," Bradfield said. "We're disappointed that the Trustees have yet to act on our call for budget mitigation. For now at least, they're hiding behind the rationale that the campus budget is a pure formulation of ‘policy.' We don't think that's so, and we'll continue to push for an understanding of the unique conditions at Dominguez Hills and for the fully funded support services that are needed here in order to
fulfill our promise to students and help them succeed."
Speakers from Cal State Los Angeles and CSU East Bay, whose campuses are in similar straits, also addressed the Trustees to call for budget mitigations.
GEORGE DIEHR AUGUST CAMPUS LUNCH TOUR SCHEDULE
CFA's George Diehr, a board member of the California Public Employee Retirement System, will be touring CSU campuses throughout August. At lunchtime forums, CFA members and other public employees are invited to ask Diehr about the latest developments in health care and retirement security. Diehr already has scheduled appearances for:
Tuesday, Aug. 1 (Fresno, USU 312-314, Noon-1 pm)
Wednesday, Aug. 2 (San Luis Obispo, Pavilion, Performing Arts Ctr, 11:30-1)
Thursday, Aug. 3 (Sacramento, Forest Suite, University Union, Noon-1)
Tuesday, Aug. 8 (San Diego, Scripps Cottage, Noon-2)
Wednesday, Aug. 9 (San Jose, University Hall, Noon-2)
Thursday, Aug. 17 (Northridge, Noski Auditorium, Noon-1:30)
Tuesday, Aug. 22 (Long Beach, 11:30-1:30)
Wednesday, Aug. 23 (San Francisco)
Other campus lunch dates are to be announced, as are Diehr appearances on convocation days at Dominguez Hills and Sacramento.