The California Faculty Association announced today that after two years of negotiations and three days of voting, it overwhelmingly voted to ratify the California State University system’s contract proposal, said a CFA official.

Alice Sunshine, communications director for the union, said 97 percent of CSU faculty members voted in favor of the new contract.

Sunshine said faculty members had from May 1 until May 3 to vote on the CSU’s proposal, which included a base salary increase of 20.7 percent for the 2006 to 2010 contract cycle. She said voting required a margin of 50 percent plus one.

According to the CSU website, the salaries could eventually increase to 24.87 percent to adjust for raises.

CSU spokeswoman Claudia Keith said this was decided upon after a third party fact-finder recommended that faculty salaries be increased by 24.87 percent over four years.

According to a CFA press release, the final step of the voting process will come at a meeting on May 15 and 16 when the CSU Trustees will put the contract to a vote.

Ashley Evans can be reached at [email protected]