by Leslie Layton
posted Jan. 22
About 150 faculty and their supporters joined the picket line today as Chico State University employees participated in the statewide, five-day action that cancelled many classes in the semester’s first week.
CSU faculty unions statewide — that includes instructors, librarians, coaches and counselors — are asking for a 12 percent salary increase after years of small increases that fail to keep up with inflation, said Associate Professor Lindsay Briggs.
Today’s picketing across the state marks the first time all 23 California State University campuses have coordinated a strike action.
Briggs said the faculty union also wants better pay for the most poorly paid lecturers, and believes lecturers who provide a great deal of classroom instruction should at least be compensated at a rate comparable to what K-12 public school teachers earn.
She also points out that the salaries of the system’s top administrators have “gone through the roof,” and notes that the CSU chancellor hired in 2023, Mildred Garcia, was given a $795,000 annual compensation.
See more photos from today’s picketing on our Facebook page here.