CSU Faculty Union approve a new plan that includes a number of benefits and financial compensations

The Long Beach State faculty department will receive a $3,500 payment and a 4% raise under a new contract ratified by the California Faculty Association (CFA) on Thursday, Feb. 3.

The Tentative Agreement, a proposed plan that helps union members and CSU Trustees inform their voting when it’s time to ratify, was approved by California State University (CSU) trustees last week. To cover over 29,000 faculty members in the 23 campuses and will run through 2024, according to a CFA press release statement.

“After two hard-fought, member-driven years of bargaining, we have a new contract,” said CFA President Charles Toombs in the press release.

The press release asserted that over 95% of CFA members voted for the Tentative Agreement and became “the highest voter turnout of the past decade.”

The agreement also includes:

• A 4% General Salary Increase (GSI) that will be applied for faculty members to receive extra funds all the way back from July 1, 2021.

• In addition to salary increases, the contract addressed anti-racism and social justice issues by increasing “exceptional service awards and naming cultural taxation,” which is a term to describe the feeling of burden faculty of color endure due to the additional workload placed upon them in academia to advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusivity with little to no compensation.

In an effort to modernize working conditions, non-instructional faculty members, such as counselors and librarians, who are normally required to be on campus on workdays.

• Under the new contract, faculty may request to provide their services on and off-campus with the approval of its campus administration.

• CSU coaches can choose to receive multi-year contracts instead of year-to-year contracts, providing more job security.

The new contract marks a big win for CSU faculty while they continue to push for better conditions, the union wrote in the press release.

Next year, a salary reopener will allow the union to re-negotiate agreements over any particular issue or terms, according to the CFA press release.