Petition for the Direct Election of CFA Bargaining Team
Dear Faculty Coworkers,
It’s already been a long and difficult semester, even though we’re only in week 5. We want to thank all CFA members at Cal State LA who participated in the vote on the Tentative Agreement. We recognize that most faculty members who voted (76%) are pleased with the ratification of the TA and are looking forward to the anticipated gains, such as the GSIs and raising of the salary floor for Lecturer A and B. At the same time, we empathize with the significant minority of voters (24%) who may be disappointed with the ratification vote outcome and feel the CFA bargaining team should have fought for more.
Regardless of how you voted on the TA, we want to stress that it’s crucial for everyone to “stick with the union.” The only people who benefit when workers quit their unions are management and rightwing anti-union organizations seeking to undermine workers’ power (i.e. the Koch Brothers funded Freedom Foundation). We must find common ground in order to fight back against these anti-worker forces at the same time that we strive for a more democratic union. For anyone who feels frustrated by the TA process or that the bargaining team did not fully meet your expectations, realize you are not alone. For others who saw the power of our union when organizing for the strikes, know that we can continue to build from this. Together, we will build a stronger CFA that reflects everyone. And know that we are being joined by CFA members from across the state working tirelessly at their home campuses.
As we reflect upon the entire bargaining, striking, and TA ratification experience, we believe there are several changes that could occur to make our union much stronger. One relatively easy structural change that we are encouraging to make these processes more responsive to the membership is for our bargaining team to be elected and open bargaining codified as our primary bargaining strategy. Please sign this statewide petition today, and include your .edu email. It takes less than one minute to sign and will make a significant impact.
While some unions appoint their bargaining teams like we do, bigger wins frequently come from elected bargaining teams who are chosen by and directly accountable to membership. Examples of elected bargaining teams in California include workers such as childcare professionals; Kaiser healthcare workers; Education workers; Teachers in Oakland; Researchers, postdocs, and TAs in the UCs. All of these unions have won some of the most transformative and far-reaching contracts in our state. Moreover, as an affiliate union of SEIU, CFA is one of the only locals that appoints its bargaining team while most others hold elections.
We want the same for us as we fight to defend quality public higher education in California. It will take thousands of members’ signatures to secure the right to elect our bargaining team. Many of the gains we achieved this bargaining cycle were due in part to our move toward open (big table) bargaining, as well as our willingness to strike. However, because we don’t have an elected and responsive bargaining team, those processes were abandoned. In order for that not to happen again, we need to ensure that our bargaining team is accountable to the members.
Please sign and share the petition widely with your faculty coworkers here at Cal State LA. Help share that changes are underway in the CFA that will allow you to be better represented, from the ground up.
In Solidarity,
CFA-LA Executive Board