What we are asking for is 100% reasonable!!
Not just reasonable… mostly what we are asking for is what we deserve at a minimum, or even far less than minimum. We are honest people when we come to the bargaining table. We look at the data and we ask for what is fair. We don’t start out asking for the moon and expecting to “meet in the middle”. We just ask for what we deserve, and we want to come to an agreement quickly without the hassle of arguing and haggling. Instead, the CSU/state refuses to bargain in good faith.
What happened to salaries historically?
In 2011 the average salary of Full Professors in the Computer Science department was $148,425 (dollar adjusted to 2023). My current salary in 2023 as a Full Professor is $124,872.00.
In terms of purchasing power, current Full Professors make 15.8% less than Full Professors use to. The CSU/state has no intention of hiring and retaining excellent full-time professors for CSU students. New, good Ph.D. graduates should NOT be considering employment in the CSU. UCLA is hiring brand new CS faculty at a salary higher than I make after 21 years of service and two promotions.
A CS professor comparable to myself and years of service at UCLA earns $220,000 a year.
If I started my career at Santa Monica Community College, I would be earning $155,981, 24.9% more. Other CA Community Colleges would be similar. And, oh… the variety of job responsibilities that I would no longer have to do.
Financially, taking this job at CSUN in 2002 was the worst decision I ever made.
Inflation pay cuts?
Inflation is a measure of the increase in prices of goods and services we buy. When wage/salary increases do not rise at the same rate it results in an effective pay cut. 10 years ago, if you had $100 then you could buy $100 of stuff. If your wages didn’t go up, then in 2023 you would still earn $100. But those same goods if you wanted to buy them would cost $133 because their prices increased due to inflation. Basically, you could now only afford to buy 75.1% of what you could before. This is effectively a 25% pay cut in your quality of life.
The CFA current contract went into effect on July 1st, 2021. We got a 4% raise on July 1st. Generally we think of this as correcting our economic disadvantage for the previous year (July 1st, 2020 through June 30th, 2021 as it isn’t fair to the state to demand raises for upcoming years because we have no idea what inflation will be. But we do know exactly what inflation was for the past year and our pay should raise to account for that. (Even though we permanently lost purchasing power during that previous year. I.e., we’re a year behind. But anyways….
The CPI (that basket of goods) on July 1st, 2020 was $259.10. The most recent data (9/2023) that CPI is valued at $307.79. This means that inflation during the time that our contract should cover has been 18.79%.
How about our salaries? We got a 4% raise on July 1st, 2021, and a 3% raise on July 1st, 2022 (oh, don’t get me started on why it wasn’t 4%). for a total salary increase of 7.1%.
We’ve suffered an effective pay cut of 11.7%
When we started our negotiations all we asked for was 12%. we requested ONLY what we deserved not to continue suffering a pay cut that has occurred for the past two years. We haven’t even asked to address past failures and ongoing unfair practices.
Care to guess what our raise was to cover July 1st, 2019 through June 30th, 2020 when inflation was 1%?? Hint: NOTHING. We just took a permanent 1% pay cut that year. Other years with no raises? 2015, 2012, 2011, 2009, 2004. Nice. Thanks, CSU.
State Funding (or lack of it)
UCLA has an enrollment of 40,558 full-time equivalent students (FTES). 68.1% of their students are California residents. UCLA has approximately 27,620 FTES resident students supported by state taxes. (2021 figures).
CSU Northridge has 32,314 FTES students. About 97% are CA residents. Approximately 31,314 CSUN students are supported by state taxes.
The state appropriations for CSUN amounts to approximately 53.3% of its budget for a total of $284.2M (2022 figures, sorry). Which is $9,076/student.
UCLA received $540.5M. Which is $19,570/student.
CSUN students get 53.6% less funding per student than UCLA.
This is about the same throughout the CSU and UC systems.
Yup… The state values students going to the UC system at something like twice as much. Even though the CSU serves a more disenfranchised and financially more troubled demographic. The CSU (most campuses) do not get to pick and choose which students they admit. All the UCs get to just pick the “top” students. Many of CSU students could get into the UC schools but can’t because of the much higher tuition and expenses.
If you want to find the money to pay for what the CSU faculty are asking for just blame Governor Newsome and the 120 CA state legislators who actively discriminate against the students, faculty, and staff of the CSU. Fix that discrimination, provide equal support for higher education, and there would be plenty of money.
Paid Parental Leave?
How much parental leave do CSU faculty currently get? 4 weeks (30 days).
What are the CSU faculty asking for? 16 weeks.
- What is CSU management offering? Nothing, no change.
- What is the average length of paid leave at US universities? 14.2 weeks for women and 11.6 weeks for men.
- What is the average length of paid leave in the US? 10 weeks.
- What is the endorsed amount of paid leave by the American Public Health Assoc. and the American Academy of Pediatrics? 12 weeks.
- European Union? 16 Weeks.
- Average for Economic Cooperation and Development countries? 18 weeks.
- Canada? 52 weeks. (15 weeks maternity, 35 weeks parental).
- 36 countries offer 52+ weeks of paid maternity leave.
Counseling services?
What is the CSU faculty asking for? 1000-1500 students per counselor.
- What is the CSU management offering? Nothing.
- What does the American School Counsel Association recommend? 250:1 and this recommendation hasn’t changed since 1065.
- What is the national average? 408:1.
Yup… we’re just asking for something like 3 times the average and 6 times the recommendation.
Class sizes?
What is the CSU Faculty asking for? Class limits of 25-40 students (depending on course structure).
What is the CSU management offering? NOTHING, no change, no limits.
Average class size at UCLA? 20.