Sacramento Bee: Faculty threatens ‘rolling strike’ to end 18-month impasse
Raghuraman Trichur arrived at California State University, Sacramento, in 2002 to teach anthropology courses. The pay was modest — in fact, low for a major university — $46,000 for an entry-level professor.
But the prospect of working with a diverse student body at CSUS, filled with first-generation college students, was compelling for Trichur, who lectures about political and economic change among ethnic groups.
“I basically see my teaching as a tool for empowerment, not only for myself but for my students,” said Trichur, 42, a native of India who holds a doctorate from Temple University.
These days, he’s feeling more marginalized than empowered.
The 23,000-member California Faculty Association is deadlocked with the CSU chancellor’s office over a new labor agreement. They’ve been negotiating for 18 months, and tensions are rising. A rally of 1,000 CSU employees shut down last month’s board of trustees meeting in Long Beach, and there’s talk of a “rolling strike” — a campus-by-campus walkout — next year if the logjam isn’t broken.
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