California Faculty Association to vote on CSU furlough proposal....

[mike_c]

* UPDATED * FAQ ON CSU FURLOUGH REQUEST * UPDATED *
(Last updated 7.10.09)
Like the hundreds of CSU faculty members who have communicated with CFA over the past few weeks,
the CFA Board of Directors and Chapter leaders are deeply frustrated with the Chancellor’s handling of
the CSU budget crisis and the furlough issue, in particular.

This updated FAQ addresses the faculty’s most commonly asked questions about the Chancellor’s
proposal and includes NEW information about the upcoming vote.

The CFA Board of Directors has taken no position on the furlough proposal as presented to CFA.

more@link: http://www.calfac.org/allpdf/Budget_09_10/FAQ_onfurlough_0710.pdf

California's budget problems have been slowly cannibalizing what was arguably the world's finest higher education system for much of the last decade, and this latest crisis threatens to consume irretrievable components. Like many aspects of this mismanaged state, the three tiered higher ed system in California is dependent upon a dysfunctional legislative budgetary process.

Economic forecasts show that expenditures in higher education are not costs, per se, but rather are lucrative investments. In California, the economic return to the state's coffers is nearly $4.50 for every dollar spent on higher ed, so reducing the already starved-to-the-bone budget by a further 20 percent is clearly self-cannibalism, and will dramatically accelerate the state's spiraling fiscal problems.

My colleagues and I will vote on this latest management proposal over the next week or so. I don't know how the vote will go, frankly. I don't hear much support for the administration's plan for dealing with this latest crisis, largely because the "plan" is unspecified, the furloughs will only make a dent in the overall budget shortfall-- making layoffs likely anyway, management is not enthusiastic about sharing the pain with faculty and staff, and finally-- and perhaps most important, in the end-- we have already sacrificed much during the last several years, including the arbitrary withholding of our most recent negotiated pay increases. I'm not hearing much enthusiasm for this latest "plan" from the colleagues I've talked to.

Cross posted to the labor forum.

Solidarity!