Strike Authorization Vote FAQs

We need to be prepared to go on strike if we want to win a fair contract. We will not engage in strike actions related to the collective bargaining agreement until we are legally permitted to do so. However, knowing the will of our membership now ensures that we are well prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to achieve a fair and just successor contract that improves our working conditions. If members vote to authorize a strike, that doesn’t mean a strike will happen. It’s a step in the process that signals members’ support and solidarity for a strike. The best way to avoid a strike is to be thoroughly prepared for one.  

(   ) YES, I authorize the CFA Board of Directors to initiate job actions, up to and including striking, if, at the conclusion of the statutory bargaining process, the CSU fails to settle a fair contract with improvements in salary, workload, lecturer faculty protections, and other terms or if the CSU Management’s unfair labor practices require the union to call a strike.  

(   ) NO, I do not give strike authorization. I am willing to accept the chancellor’s last offer of a one-time payment (3% lump sum that does not go to base and is taxable), a 3% General Salary Increase upon ratification, agreement to bargain away health care benefits in the future, and other takebacks. 

Only CFA members can vote. If you are not a member, you can join us online at www.calfac.org/join-cfa. 

All members in good standing can vote. Faculty participating in the Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP) or working as a retired annuitant can vote, but faculty who are fully retired cannot vote. Lecturers on a grace period are eligible to vote. 

If you have thoughts or concerns you would like to raise with CFA’s Board of Directors about the strike vote, email us at cfa@calfac.org. 

Not necessarily. An affirmative strike vote does not mean a strike is inevitable. Many unions have had member-authorized strike votes but never ended up striking because management saw the solidarity of workers and decided to make a deal. For example, United Teachers Los Angeles’s (UTLA’s) plan to strike forced the Los Angeles Unified School District to agree to many of the union’s bargaining demands.   

It means that we refrain from teaching, counseling, librarian service, coaching, and any other work we would normally do for the CSU on the day(s) of the strike, and we would organize picket lines and rallies on the campus(es). Educators on strike do not grade, answer work emails, or perform other faculty work. 

There are various ways to go on strike — systemwide, one campus at a time, other options — and if it comes to that, CFA leaders and actively participating members will explore and decide the best way to do it. 

In November 2011, two CSU campuses — CSU East Bay and CSU Dominguez Hills — went on strike for one day. Faculty from other campuses went there to join the picket lines. The campuses were shut down, and we achieved victory in our bargaining goals.   

In the Spring of 2016, faculty members were prepared to shut the entire system down for a full week. In a last-minute deal, management agreed to our demands and the strike was averted. 

In December 2023, CFA members held one-day strikes at four campuses: Cal Poly Pomona, San Francisco State, CSU Los Angeles, and Sacramento State. Then, in January 2024, we held our first systemwide faculty strike. Together, we won pay increases, more paid parental leave, better access to gender-inclusive facilities and lactation spaces, and other improvements to our compensation and working conditions.  

Together, we can win again. If you have ideas, get involved with your chapter and join in the fight!  

Yes. CFA’s Board of Directors wants CFA members to understand and approve of any agreement, and will call for a ratification vote when that happens. Like the strike authorization vote, only members in good standing may vote on ratification.  

We have been unable to reach agreement on about 27 articles and terms in successor bargaining to the current contract. Our core issues are salary, workload, appointment, academic freedom, and Artificial Intelligence.  

The CFA Bargaining Team proposed annual Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs), Service Salary Increases (SSIs), and Post-Promotion Increases (PPIs). We also proposed setting a minimum salary tied to 10% of the chancellor’s pay, or $79,500, and expanding the system-wide equity program.  

Despite roughly 7% increase in ongoing state funding for the CSU, management only proposed a one-time 3% bonus for 2025-26 and a 3% General Salary Increase (GSI) for 2027-2028. They also want to make faculty pay more for health care. This is just unacceptable. 

We proposed new stand-alone articles on academic freedom and artificial intelligence that would create protections around these issues. But management has disappointingly responded with language from a 1971 academic freedom policy and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on AI that refuses to agree that counselor, librarian, and coach work is not replaced by AI.  

As for workload, our proposals include more flexibility for counselor and librarian work schedules, predictable enrollment caps for courses, and compensating faculty on “temporary” contracts for service work. For appointment, we proposed quicker timelines to new long-term appointments for lecturer faculty, appropriate notification periods for offers of work, and that each campus have a minimum of 50% of its counselor faculty have tenured or probationary appointments. Management rejected every proposal for both workload and appointment.  

See our proposals in full here. 

In 2025, we held faculty meetings on all campuses so that the bargaining team was sure to hear directly and in person about needs and priorities. We also sent an online bargaining survey to all faculty with the goal of getting feedback from a wide range of members.  

Our proposals are also based on our research of other educators in California and nationally and an analysis of the CSU operating budget and reserves.  

This bargaining cycle is also the first time we have had a representative from every CSU campus on our CFA Bargaining Team. Including faculty members from all campuses better informed our proposals.  

After Governor Gavin Newsom signed a budget with a roughly 7% increase in ongoing state funding for the CSU, management made a salary proposal that insulted us. We declared impasse on July 10, 2026, and the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) recognized that our arguments were sound, over management’s objections. PERB moved us to mediation July 16, and a mediator moved us to factfinding on September 14. Factfinding dates are scheduled for the first half of November. 

In factfinding, a neutral third party is chosen to chair a panel that also includes a representative of CFA and of CSU management. After conducting a hearing with witness testimony and documentary evidence, the three-person panel writes a factfinding report that recommends how a settlement could be achieved. The recommendations in the report are non-binding, meaning neither side is required by law to accept them. If factfinding leads to a settlement, then all is done, and the process will end with faculty and the CSU Board of Trustees each voting to ratify the agreement. 

If factfinding doesn’t result in an agreement, at that point, the “statutory” process ends. We gain the right to legally strike, and CSU management may impose its last, best, and final offer. 

Sometimes unions strike over unfair practices when the employer fails to bargain in good faith or to fairly engage in the statutory process. UC workers did this in 2022 and SEIU Local 1000 held an unfair labor practice strike on October 21.  

When we went on strike in 2024, students supported us. Students are already harmed by debt, high fees, and fewer faculty available to help them. And they must work ever longer hours to afford to stay in school. 

The truth is that students and faculty are in the same storm.   

Many students know that faculty are working hard to help them while we struggle to support our own families. When faculty must live far from campus, cobble together a living by teaching at various schools, and worry about our own children’s well-being, both faculty and students pay the price. 

The real issue is, will CSU management prioritize us, the students and faculty, or will they continue to waste funding on administrative bloat, consulting contracts, unnecessary construction, and surveillance technology? 

We encourage faculty to include language in their syllabi and electronic bulletin boards informing students about potential job actions. 

Under state law, there is a legal process under HEERA (the Higher Education Employment Relations Act) that must occur before any CSU employees have the right to go on strike. As set out above, the union has to engage in factfinding procedures. 

It is a violation of state law to attempt to dismiss or discipline a faculty member for exercising the right to participate in a lawful job action such as a strike. CFA advocates will assist any individual or group experiencing negative personnel actions for participating in a job action including a strike. 

Like all faculty, coaches would refrain from working during a strike. Like many professional athletes, CSU coaches are unionized. Management would like nothing better than to create division in the faculty ranks by pressuring coaches to cross a picket line. Again, we will protect ALL members who face pressure to refrain from the legal right to engage in concerted action. 

Like all faculty, counselors would withhold their labor in the event of a strike. Like nurses and other healthcare providers, counselors want to be sure that those in their care do not suffer in the event of a strike. We will make sure that students know to call 911 or seek emergency services just as they would when counseling services are closed. 

Yes. To find your nearest picket line, please contact your chapter president or field representative. 

Yes. Department chairs are part of CFA, also known as Unit 3 employees in the CSU, and the work they perform is Unit 3 work. When we go on strike, all unit members including department chairs will go on strike. 

Other unions in the CSU are also in bargaining, and we’ve been working in coalition with our sibling CSU unions. CFA leaders regularly meet with them — including Teamsters Local 2010, CSU Employee Union (CSUEU), UAW Local 4123, and Academic Professionals of California (APC) — to discuss bargaining with management and how we can support each other. Management has presented insulting pay proposals to all of us.  

Our CSU Labor Coalition has coordinated actions together, including at CSU Board of Trustees meetings. In February 2026, CFA members also supported Teamsters Local 2010 members on strike.  

There are many ways you can help our CFA Bargaining Team move the process to a satisfactory settlement. 

First, make sure that you join CFA if you are not yet a member. You can join at http://www.calfac.org/join-cfa 

If you already are a CFA member, ask colleagues in your department or discipline who are not yet members to join CFA. We need to demonstrate that we stand united for a fair salary and for quality education. Our membership numbers demonstrate our power. 

Vote YES to authorize a strike and make sure your colleagues do so as well.  

Join your campus Campus Action Team to educate and mobilize your colleagues. to educate and mobilize your colleagues. 

Talk to your students about the possibility of work action and put a note in your syllabus or learning management system. 

Visit www.CFAbargaining.org for the latest on bargaining. 

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