December 4, 2015
Greetings Colleagues,
We want to congratulate everyone who stood up for quality higher education by voting for strike authorization and participating in our November 17th events at Long Beach and on the campuses. The actions were incredibly successful and sent powerful messages to the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees. These were important activities, but we need to keep up the pressure. As we head towards the end of the term and hustle to finish projects and grade papers, the Fight for Five must continue; your CFA leaders are preparing for our next actions.
As the statutory process unfolds, we must continue to remind the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees that we’re still angry—we’re “Seeing Red”— and the strike vote and the November 17th event were just the beginning.
We’re asking you to help keep up the momentum. During the first week of classes on each campus, faculty and supporters are asked to wear red the entire week, to participate in events being planned by your local chapter, and most importantly, talk to your students about the possibility of a strike.
As you prepare syllabi for the term, you may want to put a statement like this in your syllabus:
The California Faculty Association is in the midst of a difficult contract dispute with management. It is possible that the faculty union will call a strike or other work stoppage this term. I will inform the class as soon as possible of any disruption to our class meeting schedule.
At some point in January the factfinding process will come to a close. If we have not reached a satisfactory settlement with CSU management by that time, we will need to be prepared to take aggressive concerted action. It will be important to prepare our students if we are forced to take this step.
We know that faculty working conditions are student learning conditions. No faculty members want to hurt their students, but we know too well that the CSU's disinvestment in instruction already takes a terrible toll on students. We know that the administration can’t say that they are putting students first when they consistently put faculty last. As we have shown, in both good and bad budget times, whether student fees go up or not, CSU management has consistently put faculty last.
We are determined to Fight for Five plus an SSI in the streets, in the courts, in the legislature, on the campuses, and in the media. This salary increase is a matter of fairness, and it is in within the ability of the CSU administration to provide.
Let’s stand together at the start of the term by showing in tangible terms that faculty are “Seeing Red.”
In Union,
CFA Officers