CFA Wins Tentative Agreements in Mediation

CFA’s Bargaining Team won tentative agreements on four contract articles in our first mediation session with CSU management and a state-appointed third party on Tuesday.  

The tentative agreements cover the newly named article Administrative Leave With Pay (formerly “Temporary Suspension”), as well as Summer Term Employment, Sick Leave, and Holidays. Management settled on these issues after previously refusing to compromise with CFA. The interim tentative agreement articles, which are subject to ratification, are available to view on the CFA bargaining website. 

“These tentative agreement victories are just the beginning of what we can achieve in mediation and further steps in the statutory bargaining process,” said Kevin Wehr, CFA Bargaining Chair and Sacramento State professor. “Together, faculty will keep fighting to Fund the Classroom, Not the Boardroom.”  

A second mediation session will be held on September 10. Much of what is discussed during these sessions cannot be shared with the public because the Public Employment Relations Board defines mediation as a confidential process. But the process does allow us to report on any tentative agreements that result from the mediation. This information will also be posted on our bargaining website. 

What we have been bargaining for is a strong contract that addresses the needs of our faculty while also ensuring that management does not take back what we’ve already won. 

If the two parties are unable to agree to all contract terms during mediation, then we move on to the next step of the statutory process: factfinding. Historically in mediation, the sides have been unable to agree to terms on some of the more contentious issues, such as compensation and workload 

By law before job actions, including the possibility of a strike, may occur, our bargaining team must submit to both mediation and factfinding. 

If you are a CFA member, please pledge your solidarity with CFA here so we can be in the best position possible as our work moves forward. 

“What we’re asking for at the bargaining table really matters,” said Loren Cannon, CFA Secretary and Cal Poly Humboldt lecturer. “While it may appear to be of small concern for the chancellor and CSU executives, it is anything but to the faculty whose families count on them to buy the groceries or put gas in the tank. To many of us, the salary increases we’re proposing are not just numbers on a bargaining table. They directly affect our ability to support our families and make ends meet. It is increasingly difficult to justify how the chancellor and CSU Board of Trustees can dump so much money into the hands of the wealthiest CSU executives, while meaningful raises for workers are somehow impossible to secure.”