Another massive higher education strike began Monday, with workers across the 23-campus California State University system walking off the job in pursuit of better pay, more mental health counselors for students, semester-long paid parental leave and other concessions.þþBy the end of the day, the union called for the strike's end. In a news release around 10 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the union announced a tentative agreement with CSU that wouldn't meet the union's salary demand, but would provide 10 weeks of paid parental leave, up from six, along with other wins. The union said members would vote on the deal ÿin the coming weeks.þþ“The collective action of so many lecturers, professors, counselors, librarians, and coaches over these last eight months forced CSU management to take our demands seriously,ÿ Charles Toombs, president of the faculty association, said in the news release. ÿThis tentative agreement makes major gains for all faculty at the CSU.”þþIn the Cal State system's own news release, the new chancellor, Mildred Garcia, said: “The agreement enables the CSU to fairly compensate its valued, world-class faculty while protecting the university system's long-term financial sustainability. With the agreement in place, I look forward to advancing our student-centered work—together —as the nation's greatest driver of social mobility and the pipeline fueling California's diverse and educated workforce.ÿþþCSU is the nation’s largest public four-year university by enrollment. The California Faculty Association (CFA), representing roughly 29,000 tenure-line instructional faculty members, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches within the system, had said the strike, its first systemwide one, would last through this week. This is the first week of spring semester classes on multiple California State campuses.þþNeither Cal State nor the CFA provided numbers Monday for how many employees were actually withholding labor. But William A. Herbert, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, said it’s “the largest bargaining unit of faculty that have gone on strike in at least a decade.” He said data gaps at his center, located at the City University of New York’s Hunter College, prevent comparisons further back than that.
Source: insidehighered.com
