By Cael Cross, October 6, 2026
The California Faculty Association rallied outside the Student Services Building Sept. 29 alongside other California State University labor unions amid ongoing negotiation struggles with the CSU over faculty salaries and benefits.
The CFA, joined by the California State University Employees Union, Academic Professionals of California and Teamsters Local 2010 is at different stages of contract negotiations with the CSU. CSUEU and APC are still active in negotiations but have yet to reach common ground, while the CFA and Teamsters have both reached impasses in its negotiations.
The CFA declared an impasse July 10, after the CSU proposed an offer that CFA Pomona’s Communication Committee Chair and political science professor Marc Scarcelli said was “an insult to our intelligence,” halting the 16-month long bargaining between the two. The proposal offered a one-time, 3% taxable bonus for 2025-26 but rejected the CFA’s salary increase proposal, according to the CFA’s website.
“It’s hard for us to keep up with inflation,” said CFA Pomona President and psychology professor Bonnie Thorne. “That’s why we’re asking for cost-of-living increases every year, so that we don’t have to go back every time and ask for more money just so we can keep up.”
Thorne discussed the 7% increase in state funding for the CSU during the rally, referring to the 2026-27 state budget Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in June, which included $365.7 million in new funding for the university system.
Scarcelli highlighted the budget increase during the rally, citing how despite the CFA and other unions’ lobbying to erase the threat of a budget cut for the CSU system, faculty were not given any sort of salary increase. Yet, campus presidents’ salaries and the chancellor’s compensation package have increased over the past few years, according to the CFA’s website.
Scarcelli also noted other unions’ difficulties with negotiations during the rally, specifically pointing out the 1.2% salary step structure increase CSU proposed. CSU presented its counterproposal Sept. 9, increasing its initial offer by 0.2%, compared with CSUEU’s proposed 7% increase, according to CSUEU’s website.
Salary step structures are structures that increase the pay of an employee based on years of experience or time spent at a job. The pay rises are fixed for each step and are usually achieved by time intervals, such as annually, or by reaching a predetermined goal or milestone.
According to CSUEU Chapter 319 President Casandra Horner, the CSU promised CSUEU the implementation of steps in October 2025. The implementation was contingent on funding becoming available for the CSU. Horner said the funding became available through the same budget Gov. Newsom approved in June 2026.
“It’s a slap in the face,” Horner said. “Considering that the economy is so high, … 1.2% is not even going to get us back where we should have been in ‘23. The reality is our salaries are still not at the range where it’s supposed to be.”
CSUEU isn’t the only union in current negotiations, as APC also rejected the proposal offered by CSU. According to APC’s website, the CSU Bargaining Team did not adjust its proposal for APC, which was a 1% salary increase, despite knowing that other labor unions rejected the same offer.
Daniel Griggs, CSUEU Chapter 319 communications officer, noted the CSU’s inability to negotiate with labor unions sets a bad precedent for the university system, especially when trying to recruit potential new employees.
“The administration, both from the Chancellor’s Office on down through the presidents, want to say that they’re trying to make the CSU an employer of choice, so they can attract good employees,” Griggs said. “The problem with that is it’s not going to happen if they treat us like this. People aren’t going to want to come and work for an employer that insults their employees with a 1.2% offer.”
The unions emphasized their solidarity throughout the rally. Chants such as “four unions, one fight; fair pay is what’s right,” rang throughout the crowd.
All the CSUEU chapter presidents are in collaboration with each other, discussing strategic planning and organization of rallies to assure proper representation of unions, according to Horner. The rally is part of a statewide effort across all 23 CSU campuses, where other union chapters have also held rallies, including chapters at California State University, Sacramento Sept. 23 and California State University, Northridge Sept. 30.
Thorne said the statewide rallies not only represent the unions, but also the students. English education student and intern for Students of Quality Education Emily Summers spoke during the rally, pushing for students to stand with professors and other faculty members of the four unions.
Thorne highlighted Summers and the other interns at SQE’s understanding of the faculty’s current position and how situations faculty members face, such as traveling between different campuses, can affect students.
“If they’re teaching on multiple campuses, that has an impact on students,” Thorne said. “It really is true that our working conditions are your learning conditions.”
If no progress is made between the unions and the CSU Bargaining Team, the unions may go on strike, according to Thorne, Horner and Briggs, which would make it the second CSU labor union strike of 2026 after Teamsters Local 2010 went on a four-day strike in February.
It would also be the CFA’s first strike since January 2024, which lasted one day before the two sides agreed to a tentative deal, which included a 10% salary increase, half of which was retroactive, as well as extended paid parental leave.
“That’s the last thing we want to do,” Griggs said. “We just want to be treated fairly and to be able to afford to live in Southern California while we work at this campus.”
