Cal State Faculty Strike: Hundreds Of Faculty Walk Out, Demanding Pay Raise

Hundreds of California State University (CSU) faculty members staged a walkout at Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State East Bay Thursday, demanding a pay raise they say they were promised. This first-ever faculty walkout in the 23-campus system was voted on last week by the California Faculty Association, the union that represents about 23,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches.

As ABC reports, the faculty at the Dominguez Hills campus handed out fliers earlier this month to students and others alerting them about the strike, which is about a pay increase in their contract reneged on because of the state's budget shortfall. Faculty are asking why the university's highest-paid executives are getting pay raises instead of faculty.

Alice Sunshine with the California Faculty Association told ABC, "The chancellor refuses to settle. He's said zero, zero, zero all the time. Meanwhile, he's giving out raises to top executives. He's been giving raises to managers. You know, we're talking about a very small amount for our lowest paid faculty."

Faculty members plan to picket all day, with rallies scheduled at both campuses at noon, the Los Angeles Times reports. Administrators said classes will remain open, as long as the lecturer is there and urged students to attend class. They said faculty have the right to strike but will lose a day of pay.

The faculty walkout comes one day after students responded with violence to the CSU Board of Trustees vote in Long Beach to increase tuition by 9% Wednesday. Several protestors were taken into custody; other protestors shattered glass doors, injuring a police officer.

According to the LA Times, in light of Wednesday's violence, officials plan to increase security throughout the day-long faculty walkout.