CFA in April filed an unfair labor practice charge against CSU management for violating state labor law by refusing to bargain in good faith with faculty.
The Bargaining Team wanted to take the time to explain where things are at now. As a note, this is a living document and will be updated over the coming weeks and months.
The California Faculty Association is an anti-racist, social justice union of more than 29,000 tenured, tenure-track, lecturer, counselor, librarian, and coaching faculty at all 23 campuses of the CSU. CFA is the exclusive bargaining representative for all Unit 3 employees in the California State University.
A union contract, or “Collective Bargaining Agreement” (CBA), is the legal document that defines workplace rights, pay, and benefits. The CBA is negotiated between CFA, the sole bargaining representative of Unit 3 faculty, and the CSU.
We are bargaining over the full contract. This includes all articles in our contract, such as appointment, evaluation, health and safety, intellectual property, and salary and benefits. We can bargain over issues if both CFA and CSU management agree to do so. Technically we can negotiate with the CSU over anything that is within “scope,” meaning it is a mandatory or permissive subject of bargaining under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Education Act (HEERA).
During the bargaining process, CFA members and CSU management meet to negotiate over articles in our current contract and any new proposals. Bargaining involves each side making written proposals to each other and responding to the other side’s proposals. Each side presents arguments and evidence in favor of their proposals.
They make one draft after another until they reach a version that both sides can agree upon. If an agreement is not made, the union or the employer can declare an impasse and proceed to other steps in the statutory process.
We are stalled and waiting to hear back from the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) on the unfair labor practice charge we filed in April. We argued that CSU management violated state labor law by refusing to bargain in good faith with faculty. We filed the charge in response to management’s repeated failure to provide timely information and engage meaningfully at the bargaining table.
Our contract was originally set to expire on June 30, but we signed short extensions through September 1 and then through October 31, 2025. The extension does not extend provisions of the contract that have specific end dates. This includes expanded range elevation under the full-time adjusted service years eligibility criteria.
We will evaluate this as the date approaches. Typically, when we are in the process of negotiating a new contract the two sides approve a short-term extension.
Ground rules govern how the bargaining process goes. Ground rules can include the location of bargaining, whether observers can attend sessions, and whether recordings are allowed.
We filed a PERB charge because we believe CSU management violated state labor law in four ways. We believe those four ways are (1) refusing to meet and confer with CFA over a successor contract, (2) denying our union our rights set out in the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA), (3) failing to supply requested information, and (4) attempting to interfere with CFA’s right to manage itself.
Big table bargaining allows for broad participation by members in the bargaining process. It means that union members can watch bargaining sessions with management and participate in caucus (a time for bargaining team and CFA members to discuss the impact of management’s proposals and their behavior at the table). Big table bargaining differs from closed bargaining, where only members of the bargaining team meet with management.
The Bargaining Team develops scaffolding for caucus discussions ahead of time. When we meet with the management team, only designated individuals speak at the table.
CFA intends to invite interested members to attend bargaining sessions via Zoom. We are currently in a dispute with management over this, and we have filed an unfair practice charge against CSU management with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). The grounds of the charge include management’s refusal to bargain in good faith and its interference with the union’s representation of faculty.
In the past, CFA members have been able to attend bargaining sessions and caucuses virtually, and the union seeks to continue this practice. CSU management wants to exclude members from observing negotiations. We hope to resolve the matter and go back to the past practice of allowing interested faculty members to attend.
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