Strike dates for all 23 California State University (CSU) campuses were voted on Feb. 9 by the California Faculty Association’s (CFA) Board of Directors.
The strike dates will take place if a consensus about the proposed five percent General Salary Increase (GSI) and a 2.65 percent Service Salary Increase (SSI) for all CSU faculty cannot be met.
The potential strike dates are set for April 13-15 and April 18-19 of this year.
Currently, the CSU is offering faculty a two percent GSI with no SSI which is the same offer from the 2015-2016 year that CFA rejected in 2014.
The GSI is a salary increase distributed to all faculty members within their classified salary range. The SSI is a salary increase available to faculty who are eligible.
“The strike action that the faculty may take won’t hurt students, but a faculty who would sit by quietly while the whole CSU system devalues instruction, disrespects faculty and shifts the cost of this public good onto the shoulders of students and their families would hurt students,” CFA President Jennifer Eagan said in an online CFA article. 
The CFA Bargaining Team and the Chancellor’s representatives are in the process of the report-writing phase.
Once the report is issued, a blackout period of ten days will follow. If still no agreement is reached, the statutory negotiating process will end and the faculty will have the right to legally strike.
Communication Studies Department Chair Dr. Keith Nainby is preparing for the potential strike by informing his students on the details and accommodating the necessary workload so that their education is not compromised, should the strike occur.
Nainby believes that it would be demonstrably anti-union behavior if Stan State administration hires non-union members to replace faculty who choose to strike.
“It’s difficult to substitute one person with a PhD credential, even in the same discipline, one to one with another person,” Nainby said. “College courses are unique to particular faculty member styles and approaches and they should be.
“Faculty have a unique kind of power in the case of labor bargaining with the CSU, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m so disappointed that it’s come to the point of authorizing a strike,” Nainby said. “I think the CSU administration is not respecting that unique dimension of faculty expertise because we are not replaceable.”
If a legal strike were called, CFA would organize picket lines, rallies and other actions to make the strike visible and effective.
For faculty who choose to strike, work would halt and classes would be cancelled during the five days.
Raina Chelise (senior, Communication Studies) is a member of the Students for Quality Education (SQE) club at Stan State and the CFA Student Organizer of the Stan State chapter. 
“I would stand by faculty in the potential strike,” Chelise said. ”They are people who need a living wage and they deserve to be paid their worth.”
SQE supports the CFA and focuses on building solidarity between faculty and students.
“They (students) can contact Chancellor Timothy White and put pressure on administration to insist that faculty and students are a priority,” Chelise said.
Chelise has reached out to students and Stan State organizations to encourage their support of SQE and to stand alongside CFA during the strike.
Chelise invited the Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) President Nicole Larson to attended a SQE meeting in hopes of getting ASI to support CFA and the strike.
“My hope is that SQE and ASI come together to form a collaboration to fight for students’ and faculty’s rights,” Chelise said. “No formal collaboration has been made between SQE and ASI but it was made clear that ASI wants to remain neutral during the strike.” 
When contacted via email, Larson emphasized ASI’s desire for neutrality.
“After meeting with SQE we decided to formally inform our Board from all sides of the issue,” Larson said. “Just to be clear, I did not ‘show’ my support for either side, but I do support any student group who is passionately advocating for their initiatives, as long as they are going about it respectfully, and so far SQE has been.”
Students can choose whether or not to stand by faculty on the picket line.
“It is in students’ interest to support the faculty because the faculty working conditions are the learning conditions of the students,” CFA Stan State chapter President John Sarraille said. ”A fairly compensated faculty with reasonable working conditions can be there’ for students in ways that don’t happen when faculty and their finances are stretched to the breaking point.”
In a letter addressed to members of the Campus Community sent out on Feb. 29, President Sheley gave information on the actions Stan State is to take should a strike occur.
“I want to assure you that if a strike occurs, our campus and all CSU campuses will remain open to all,” Sheley said in the letter. 
Sheley made it clear that the university’s primary goal is to ensure a safe environment, with the help of the university police, while respecting the faculty’s right to strike and to participate in strike-related activity.
In the event of a strike, some classes may be canceled, but many will likely be held. Sheley advised students to check with their instructors about individual class schedules.
“The strike should not interfere with students being able to complete their semester courses and graduate on time,” Sheley said.
Whoever you side with, its important to stay informed.
“Everybody should be informed and follow announcements coming from both sides,” Vice President of Faculty Affairs and Human Resources Dennis Shimek said.
For updates on the potential CFA strike, visit http://www.calfac.org.