CFA: Who We Are  In short, we are you!
CFA is the exclusive bargaining representative for CSU faculty. Under state law, the CFA protects academic freedom and tenure; it negotiates contracts which guarantee your status as a professional, your rights to due process, to an honest and open salary system, and to health coverage and other benefits. The contract which CFA enters into with the CSU Trustees affects almost every area of your life as a faculty member. Under intense pressure to slash budgets, the state legislature is still seeking to divert funds from the California State University system. Our faculty--including tenured professors, lecturers, librarians, coaches, and counselors--continually face demands to make greater and greater personal and professional sacrifices. Our mission is to protect the interests of the CSU faculty on a broad range of issues affecting their profession. To do that, we go beyond the negotiation of faculty contracts. In order to stay apprised of the political climate as it affects resources for higher education, we maintain a political action office in Sacramento where we work closely with the Governor and State Legislature on key appropriations bills. On our home campuses, we also serve our members by filing grievances to protect faculty rights; by advocating the highest standards of education for the CSU system; by promoting diversity within the CSU faculty; and by working to improve the faculty's benefit programs. Think you can't afford CFA? According to The NEA 1996 Almanac of Higher Education, faculty members with a collective bargaining agreement in four-year public colleges earned $8,300 more a year on average than those without an agreement. Collective bargaining works!In five years before CFA's inception, the compounded salary increase for CSU faculty was 25%. In the first seven years of CFA's service as the faculty's collective bargaining agent, salary increases soared by nearly 65%. CFA recently persuaded the legislature to require changes in CSU's accounting procedures that prevent the university from disguising its administrative expenses while overstating faculty salaries. CFA has consistently helped win greater influence and respect for the CSU faculty. Think CFA is too political? Consider this ... CFA protects your pension and health-benefits fund through vigilance in Sacramento. We engage in political action, encouraging pro-education candidates, supporting incumbents who are friendly to the CSU, and forming powerful coalitions with other public employees groups in favor of legislation and initiatives which are in the interests of our students and our profession. Some of our legislative successes:
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