California Faculty Association Assembly members recommended earlier this month that the 23 California State University chapters prepare for a strike authorization vote in the event contract negotiations with the Chancellor?s Office remain stalled.

The recommendation does not mean a strike is imminent, but it does signal a step in that direction should talks continue to stall, said Sacramento CFA chapter President Jeff Lustig. If necessary, the vote would be held next spring.

“Before we?d ever have any kind of strike, there would have to be a vote,” Lustig said. “And before we have a vote, we?d have to have preparations for a vote.”

The CFA?s contract with the CSU expired during the summer. Negotiations for a new contract were started in April, but stalled and eventually had to go into mediation.

Lustig said there are several factors holding up the negotiations, most notably the CSU?s trend of hiring part-time lecturers and increasing faculty workloads rather than hiring new full-time instructors.

“The faculty are not only facing threats to our professional roles and rights, but everybody is facing a decline in the kind of education the CSU offers if we continue hiring part-time faculty and increasing workloads,” Lustig said.

Representatives from the Chancellor?s Office see faculty salaries as the main point of conflict in the negotiations. CSU spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow said the state budget provides room for no more than a 2 percent faculty compensation increase, but the CFA and the California State Employees Association are looking for 6 percent ? a difficult figure to reach considering the state?s current $14 billion budget shortage.

“That type of increase, which is way above what was budgeted by (Gov. Gray Davis), is unrealistic in this budget climate,” Lustig said.

He said the CFA is more interested in the broader scope of issues affecting the CSU than it is in a pay increase.

“Salary has not been our big point right now,” Lustig said. “We?re talking about the general model of the University.”

The two sides differ on the progress of the mediation.

Potes-Fellow said the two sides “believe there has been some progress made,” but Lustig disagreed, saying the CSU “announced its initial position and has kind of stonewalled since then.”

Mediation is expected to end in December, followed by a fact-finding period, Lustig said.

If any strike authorization vote takes place, it will happen after the latter is completed.