Faculty Are Workers, and We Support Each Other on Labor Day and Every Day

Here is a list of Labor Day events scheduled across California that we really hope to see you at! Wear your red CFA t-shirt and show solidarity with other CFA members.

This day is not only a time for us to celebrate workers and their achievements, but an important reminder that the work to protect our rights requires bold and persistent efforts against anti-labor corporations, organizations, and a Trump presidency that undermines the interests of workers. Every day, we may catch a small glimpse of workers—including our own colleagues—making great efforts and sacrifices to ensure that all of us are provided with fair wages and just working conditions.

To many of us, these sacrifices may be invisible. They unfold alongside our lives, shaping them for the better without us ever knowing it. We may never pause to consider that part-time faculty teaching six weighted teaching units, or more are eligible for health insurance benefits, or that faculty receive 10 weeks of paid parental leave, or that—since 2018—we have received a cumulative 23% salary increase for all faculty members. These were not a gift from management; they were hard-won victories fought by the very counselors, coaches, librarians, and teachers that share the same spaces as you do. Our members—your colleagues—rallied, organized, and fought valiantly for our dignity to be treated fairly.

We would do well to remember that while many faculty play the role of a parent, child, sibling, friend, or neighbor, every single faculty member is a worker looking to provide food, shelter, and medical care for themselves and the ones they love. We are no different than any other worker who shares these same desires and faces these same challenges.

This is why we strongly encourage you, as one worker to another, to activate your membership if you haven’t done so already. We are the leaders we’ve been looking for, and we cannot do this without you.

The challenges we face as a union are both looming and ever present. While every Labor Day comes with its own set of celebrations, they also come with their own laments.

We cannot ignore the broader attacks against workers at the national level. Since he took office, Trump has reduced workers’ wages and devastated working conditions. The minimum wage for federal contractors has taken a nosedive, and he’s eliminated worker protection agencies that are responsible for ensuring worker health and safety standards. He’s jeopardized the lives of countless workers, including our miners, firefighters, and health care workers. He’s also canceled grants for programs that have been combating forced and child labor around the world.

Although he campaigned on supporting the millions of workers who need assistance, he has instead tightened his grip over working-class people by targeting our unions and collective bargaining rights. More than one million federal workers were stripped of their rights to organize and collectively bargain.

Amid all of our members’ efforts to protect immigrant communities and mixed-status families, it has been deeply painful to witness the harm inflicted—not just upon those targeted directly, but also those looking to help—in the wake of the Trump administration’s authoritarian policies.

Regardless of what one’s status may be in this country, any parent can understand the unbearable grief of being forcibly torn apart from their child. Watching militarized law enforcement take a family member, friend, or neighbor is an experience no one should endure.

To make matters worse, the Chancellor’s Office and CSU management have been complicit in these efforts to suppress dissent, free speech, and academic freedom. They have shown time and time again that they are more concerned with their public image and how they might look to investors rather than protecting the interests of our students.

Our work continues because it must. Each of our sacrifices, no matter how small, brings with it a story of courage, perseverance, compassion, and triumph in the face of adversity and uncertainty.

This fight that we commit to as CFA members is not only a fight for our rights and protections, but a fight to be treated as dignified human beings.