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CSU Faculty Union Approves Proposed Deal

LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — California State University faculty members have ratified a new four-year contract, the union representing teachers announced Tuesday.

Ninety-one percent of the members of the California Faculty Association approved the proposed contract, which now moves to the CSU Board of Trustees for final approval.

"The final agreement has produced a balanced, good contract in light of difficult times," CFA President Lillian Taiz wrote in a letter to union members announcing the vote results. "It acknowledges years of slashed public funding for the CSU and stands firm on the things faculty need to provide quality education to our students."

The tentative deal was reached at the end of July after about two years of negotiations. About 95 percent of CFA members had voted earlier to authorize a strike if a deal hadn't been reached.

The proposed agreement covers 23,000 faculty, coaches, counselors and librarians at campuses across the state.

The contract, which would run through June 30, 2014, calls for no salary increases for 2010-11 and 2011-12, but leaves open the possibility of renegotiating salary and benefits for the following two years. CSU also has the option of reopening talks as early as October if state funding fails to improve or gets worse.

"At the start of these negotiations, CSU outlined its bargaining objectives in terms of seeking changes that would promote academic quality and procedural clarity," CSU Vice Chancellor John Swarbrick said. "We believe that this agreement, particularly in relation to the changes made to faculty appointments, evaluations and payment for low enrolled summer courses, represents positive progress on both issues."

The CSU board is expected to vote on the proposed deal during its Sept. 18-19 meeting.

(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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