April 11, 2016

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Monday, April 11, 20 16

E s t abl ished 19 16

w w w.mus t angne w s .net

Everything you need to know about the

STRIKE T

Erica Evans, Naba Ahmed & Michelle Zaludek @CPMustangNews @nabaahmed @michellenistic

California State University (CSU) faculty were ready to strike. Then it all came to a screeching halt, at least for the time being. To help provide clarity about the situation, here are some answers to general questions you may have about the strike, what led to it, what brought it to a temporary stop and what this means for Cal Poly. Why were the campuses planning to strike? All CSU faculty took pay cuts during the 2009-10 school year when the recession hit the CSU system hard — there were approximately $580 million in budget cuts, according to a furlough agreement between the CSU and Cal Poly faculty. Cal Poly faculty agreed to take 18 furlough days during the 2009-10 school year to alleviate the school’s money struggles. After that, they spent several years without receiving any pay raises. The California Faculty Association (CFA) — a union that supports faculty, including professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches — then worked with the CSU faculty to demand a 5 percent

general salary increase to compensate for the salaries lost during the 2009-10 furlough period. CSU management eventually gave faculty raises ranging from approximately 1.3 to 1.6 percent, but for some faculty, including Cal Poly CFA chapter president Graham Archer, that wasn’t enough. “(The raises) barely even impact(ed) your bank account over time, and at the same time, you know, my house payment didn’t go down,” Archer, an architectural engineering professor, said in a previous interview with Mustang News. CSU management then started to offer a 2 percent increase. They’ve been offering that for the past two years. This would equal $33 million to be dispersed among the faculty, according to a CSU web page. That’s just shy of $1,270 per person, if the money were distributed equally across the 26,000 union members. But 2 percent wasn’t enough for the CFA. Instead of taking the offer, they stuck with their 5 percent demand. This 5 percent increase would have cost approximately $102.3 million — approximately $3,930 per person, if distributed equally. Some CSU faculty and staff members were depending on this higher pay increase. Accord-

CSU OFFER

CFA ORIGINAL DEMAND

2%

5%

Raise increase

Raise increase

Provides

Provides

$33 million

$102.3 million

For faculty salaries

For faculty salaries

$1,270/member

$3,930/member *Salary/member numbers are approximate

ing to a survey conducted by the CFA, out of 5,500 faculty who responded, 72 percent said they had to take on extra work to help with finances. That included Cal Poly faculty and staff. “Many professors take extra jobs because they can’t afford to live here,” history lecturer Cameron Jones said. According to Trulia — an online residential real estate site — housing market trends show that in San Luis Obispo, there is an 8

percent year-over-year rise for median sale prices. Median sale prices for a home in San Luis Obispo are $585,000. Jones says most faculty members can’t afford to buy a house in San Luis Obispo. “It’s becoming, pretty quickly, (that) we can’t even afford to buy a house in the county,” Jones said. Why was the stri ke postponed? The strike was postponed Thursday, April 7, when officials from

THE AGREEMENT

10.5%

General Salary Increase

Distributed over next three years

First year:

5%

Second year:

2%

the CSU system and the CFA met a tentative salary agreement, which they announced Friday. The two parties came up with this tentative agreement: There will be a 10.5 percent general salary increase for CSU faculty which will be distributed over three fiscal years: • 5 percent will be implemented at the end of this budget year on June 30, 2016 • 2 percent will be implemented at the beginning of the next budget year on July 1, 2016 • 3.5 percent will be implemented on July 1, 2017 • A 2.65 percent increase in additional benefits will be distributed throughout the third fiscal year to eligible faculty based on their hiring date This plan still needs to be approved by the CSU Board of Trustees and the CFA Board of Directors and members before it can officially go through. “I think this agreement represents compromise on both sides, and a commitment to economic security and stability for faculty moving forward,” CFA President Jennifer Eagan said. CSU Chancellor Timothy White said he “couldn’t be happier” that an agreement was reached, and Eagan agreed. Though Eagan was happy about the agreement, she said she recog-

nizes it isn’t an immediate fix for faculty members’ issues, but will certainly help. So there’s no strike and there’s a salary agreement on the table. Now what? Though the strike is postponed, that doesn’t mean it’s called off for good. Archer said the faculty and staff are still prepared to strike in Fall 2016 if the agreement is not reached. “If the tentative agreement is not successful … we’re absolutely ready to strike in the fall,” Archer said. “The reason it’s the fall and not this quarter is that there are far more campuses that are semester. And so by the 6th of May, they’re virtually done.” Despite this possibility, White and Eagan said they think the agreement will be ratified. They agreed that their compromise is beneficial to all, and said it will set a precedent for future conflicts. “The time that we are at our best is when difficult things are approached together, debated, thought through, analyzed; people are willing to be persuaded and to persuade,” White said. “But once we get to a decision, (we must) move forward with that decision.”

Third year:

3.5%

*Extra 2.65% for eligible staff

See pages 6 and 7 for tips on how to have your best Career Fair yet.

Baseball takes rubber match against Big West Conference-leading Fullerton CHRISTA LAM | MUSTANG NE WS HEATERS

| Sophomore starting pitcher Erich Uelmen threw 7.1 shutout innings on Saturday’s 1-0 walkoff win over Cal State Fullerton.

Tommy Tran @tommytran_

The Cal Poly baseball team opened Big West Conference play against Cal State Fullerton last weekend with a three-game series in Baggett Stadium. The Mustangs clinched the series’ rubber match on Sunday afternoon with a 6-3 victory. The Mustangs (19-11, 2-1 Big West) lost the series-opening game 2-1 against the Titans (1813, 4-2 Big West) on Friday night, but bounced back with a 10 inning, 1-0 victory on Saturday. After a weekend of rain and shifting game schedules, Saturday

was the perfect day for the Mustangs to return and win the second game of the series. Starting pitcher Erich Uelmen gave up just two hits in 7.1 shutout innings before freshman shortstop Kyle Marinconz scored on a walk-off sacrifice fly by sophomore left fielder Josh George. Cal Poly looked to take the series on Sunday. Titans freshman shortstop Timmy Richards knocked a home run in the first inning, giving Cal State Fullerton the 1-0 lead until the Mustangs quickly responded by scoring twice in the second inning. Sophomore left fielder Josh

George scored off of a single by junior designated hitter Kevin Morgan, followed by another run from third baseman Michael Sanderson on a bases-loaded walk. The Mustangs continued to lead the game into the bottom of the fourth inning after another run from Sanderson. Morgan and freshman catcher Nick Meyer both scored off of an RBI by Marinconz to lead 5-1. Morgan scored the team’s sixth and final run of the ball game in the fifth inning. Fullerton responded in the top of the sixth inning to advance to 6-2, but still trailed the Mustangs.

Neither team scored in the seventh or eighth innings. The Titans drew closer with a home run in the ninth inning to close the game at a final score of 6-3. The Mustangs have performed spottily through their first 30 games of the season, including a 5-6 away record, making the future of Cal Poly’s baseball season unpredictable. But what is clear about this year’s team is that it plays its best baseball at home in Baggett Stadium, where the Mustangs now sport a 14-5 record. Big West Conference play continues this weekend with a threegame series at Hawaii.

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