Fact-finding Panel Releases Findings in CFA Labor Dispute

The data collected by the third-party fact-finding mediator between the California Faculty Association and the California State University was released earlier today.

According to a press release from the CFA, neutral fact-finder Sylvia Skratek's findings were consistent with the CFA's claims that the CSU system's pay scale of its faculty is indeed lagging behind other systems of higher education. Skratek recommends that faculty should receive a 24.87 percent salary increase over a maximum of four years.

The union has already taken measures to organize rolling strikes at all 23 campuses. Chancellor Reed is expected to respond to the fact-finder's report next week.

The report may be viewed by logging on to the CFA's website. CSULB's representative to the CFA is English professor Elizabeth Hoffman. President F. King Alexander declined to comment on the situation.

Photo courtesy of the California Faculty Association.

CSULB Student Body Approves New Rec. Center

This week, nearly 75 percent of the voting student body voted in favor of a new recreation center to be built on campus. This initiative is one of President Alexander's pet projects that his office has worked tirelessly to see passed by the student body.

The rec center will include eight basketball, volleyball and badminton courts, an indoor jogging track, rock climbing wall, juice bar and lounge, multiple racquetball courts, an outdoor recreational swimming pool and seven multi-purpose dance/group fitness rooms.

It will cost students $110 per semester and $83 during the summer. The total cost of the construction is $65 million, and the center will be constructed in Lot 11. The parking in Lot 11 will be impacted temporarily, but another parking structure will be built to provide more parking spaces, according to the Student Recreation and Wellness Center Web site. The center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.

CFA to Vote on Strike

Members of the California Faculty Association will be voting in the coming weeks on whether or not to go on strike.

The CFA will be voting by campus over Mar. 5 through Mar. 8 and Mar. 12 through Mar. 15. Sixteen of the 23 CSUs will vote during the first session and the remaining 7 will vote in the second session. Long Beach State faculty will be voting in the second session.

According to the CFA's website, bargaining over salaries, parking costs, lecturer rights and class size are all items over which negotiations with the Chancellor's Office have reached a stalemate. CSU Long Beach President F. King Alexander's office could not be reached for comment on the upcoming vote.

If the organization does vote in favor of a strike for faculty members, teachers and other faculty will be implementing two-day rolling strikes across the state. Such action would be the first in the history of the CFA.

Ideas for future stories

President's response to student approval of new rec center

President's response to the outcome of CFA strike vote