California State University faculty march
for pay raise, threaten strike
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[November 18, 2015]
By Olga Grigoryants
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Reuters) - More than
1,000 staff and students marched through the streets of Long Beach,
California, on Tuesday to demand a raise for the 26,000 faculty members
of the California State University, the nation's largest public
university system.
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The California Faculty Association, which represents faculty at
the 23 California State University campuses, organized the so-called
"Fight for Five" protest that culminated outside the California
State University Board of Trustee's meeting.
At the meeting, members of the association called for a 5 percent
raise, saying that a 2 percent salary hike proposed by the
university management was not enough.
"People are suffering and hurting financially," said Theresa
Montaño, a vice president of the California Teacher's Association.
"Faculty members can't pay off their debt, raise a family or buy a
home."
During the march, many protesters said that if faculty members don't
get the salary increase, they are ready to walk off the job. More
than 90 percent of the CSU faculty voted earlier this week to go on
strike if negotiators do not reach an agreement.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Nov/18/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_062409.png) Outside of the board's building, instructors and students rallied
holding signs that read "faculty salaries are too low" and "I don't
want to strike but I will."
Eduardo Estrada, 19, a student from Cal State Northridge, said he
skipped class on Tuesday to join his classmates "to support his
professors."
Jennifer Eagan, a president for CFA, said it's "unfair to ask
professors keep sacrificing year after year without a significant
pay increase."
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Laurie Weidner, an assistant vice chancellor for The California
State University, said the salaries of CSU's faculty members are
"competitive," adding that a 5 percent salary increase would cost
the system $102.3 million per year, or $69.3 million more than a 2
percent raise.
Weidner said that if the board granted the 5 percent raise, it would
also require them to grant similar increases for other union staff
working for the university system, with commensurate costs.
(Reporting by Olga Grigoryants in Long Beach,; Editing by Dan
Whitcomb and Sandra Maler)
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