The California State University system and the California Faculty Association reached an impasse in their negotiations over the summer for a new faculty contract, triggering a mediation process set to begin later this month.

Negotiations for a new contract started in April, but no compromise has been reached. CFA Sacramento chapter President Jeff Lustig claims the CSU hasn?t taken the negotiations seriously, and doesn?t think that will change when they resume.

“I don?t think things are going to be any different,” Lustig said of the upcoming mediation. “It looks to me like the Chancellor?s office has done the bare minimum the law requires and negotiated in bad faith.”

The two sides remain deadlocked over salary and compensation, student-faculty ratios, contracts for long-term lecturers, base pay for summer teaching and contract enforcement to address the backlog of arbitration cases.

The CSU continues to compensate faculty under the terms of the expired agreement, according to Colleen Bentley Adler of the CSU Chancellor?s Public Affairs office.

Because the negotiation process stalled, both sides agreed to sit down with Delores Labina of the State Mediation Service. The first meeting is scheduled for some time between Sept. 21 and Sept. 26, though the exact date has yet to be set, Bentley Adler said.

“We?re optimistic that an agreement will be reached through mediation,” Bentley Adler said.

President Donald Gerth said he hopes the situation will be resolved, but since he isn?t part of the negotiation process he can?t predict an outcome.

“I am not at the table, nor do I stay in touch with the negotiating team,” Gerth said.The university system can legally impose their last offer as the terms for a new contract, as was the case with the previous agreement.

Both sides have said they are looking out for student interests, but have serious disagreements about how those interests are best served.

Bentley Adler said that the CFA request for a 5.7 percent pay increase exceeds the 2 percent increase allocated in CSU?s state-mandated budget.

“We?re allowed (to) give only so much by the Governor?s budget. To exceed that amount means taking something away from student access,” Bentley Adler said.

The Chancellor?s office projects that 10,000 more students will attend the CSU by 2010, and too high of an increase would limit the ability to hire more faculty down the road, Bentley Adler said.

“If we give CFA what they want, we won?t be able to hire new faculty to meet increased enrollment,” she said.

Lustig said CSU is fully capable of increasing compensation by more than 2 percent. “CSU isn?t limited to a 2 percent increase,” he said. “That?s humbug. They?ve moved away from budget itemization so that they can play with the numbers.”

Lustig said that the CSU system underpays faculty compared to what educators make at other colleges, making the recruitment and retention of the best professors extremely difficult.

“The salary gap has not closed, although they promised it would. It?s hard to hire the best under those conditions, and the quality of student education suffers,” he said.

The state mediator will meet with both sides as long as she deems the discussions profitable, according to Bentley Adler.

“They?ll meet as long as things are progressing,” she said. “There?s no deadline.”

If mediation fails to produce an agreement, the bargaining process moves to a fact-finding stage. Representatives from each camp and a neutral third party review the issues, report on their findings and make recommendations to break the deadlock, said Bentley Adler.

Lustig said that the fact-finding process has been tried twice before, once in the spring of 1999 and again last year. CFA rejected the results of the first report that CSU accepted. The administration rejected the second report while the union accepted it.

Lustig said the CFA is planning a “teach-in” for Oct. 16 to educate faculty, staff and students about the contract negotiations and to talk about the union?s vision of the future.

“CFA wants to articulate a vision that is an alternative to the corporate model that CSU supports,” he said.