Hundreds of Cal State Los Angeles faculty staged a one-day strike at their campus on Wednesday, Dec. 5 — the third iteration of similar actions planned by their fellow union members across the state this week.
The California Faculty Association, a labor union representing around 29,000 instructional faculty, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches across the California State University system’s 23 campuses, planned the week of one-day walkouts as part of efforts to a negotiate a new labor contract.
The union’s chief concern, according to its website, is securing 12% pay raises for all its members in order to keep up with inflation, raising the pay floor for the CSU’s lowest-paid faculty and expanding parental leave.
The CFA also wants more manageable workloads, the website says, additional mental health counselors for students, and better access to both gender-inclusive restrooms and breastfeeding stations.
Wednesday’s strike at CSULA was the third such action planned by the CFA. Faculty members were expected to be on the picket line at State University Drive and Paseo Rancho Castilla until 7 p.m.
Other one-day walkouts took place at Cal Poly Pomona and San Francisco State University earlier this week, with a final walkout planned at Sacramento State on Thursday, Dec. 7.
Pat Alford, a Cal State Northridge counselor who joined CSULA faculty during the Wednesday strike, said she’s hoping the walkouts will make a difference in bargaining — and help avoid longer strikes in the future.
“It’s time to increase wages to keep up with inflation,” Alford said. “I know, in my department, many people work two jobs to make ends meet. We also need to hire people but we can’t attract anyone with such low wages.”
Despite the walkout, CSULA — which is not directly involved in the labor negotiations — did not cancel classes on Wednesday, the university said in a statement, and most student service centers remained open.
“Cal State LA…
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