Throughout history, faculty members across all education levels nationwide have striked due to their low pay which diminishes and disregards the value that teachers bring to future generations. Teachers are often extremely underpaid, especially considering all the effort they put into education and the development of a child’s critical thinking. And without teachers, who would lead the next generation to success?
In the realm of disrespected and exploited industry workers, teachers are at the very top of the list. It’s a widespread notion that educators are overworked and underpaid. In past discussions, teachers have confessed their concern over often being disregarded and oppressed as staff in the education system. Even Millikan’s very own teachers have admitted to falling victim to “teacher burnout.”
In efforts to lessen the many stresses of faculty in California, The California State University System (CSU) faculty planned a strike that started and ended on January 22nd. It concluded with a 5% salary increase after just one day of a week-long planned strike, considering that it’s the largest public university school system of the nation. This is the largest recorded education sector strike in history.
The main goals of the strike were much different than what was achieved. They sought to gain a 12% salary increase as well as better working conditions: parental leave, and gender-inclusive bathrooms.
Over 20,000 professors took part in this strike, including many from California State University of Long Beach (CSULB) striking in the rain on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Tens of thousands of staff members including members from the California Faculty Association (CFA) planned this out for months.
After the conclusion of the strike, The Millikan Corydon sat down with John Patrick, a professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO). In the interview, Patrick spoke about how they were offered only 5%, under circumstances that weren’t significantly different from offers from CSU in the past (found here).
Although these circumstances may not be what was intended, the contract is acceptable for most faculty members, as evidenced by the strike ending after just one day, because even just 5% is better than nothing.
Patrick comments, “…this raise should finally take my salary to a living wage for a family like mine.”
With these insured raises (5% now and a possible additional 2.65% in the Fall) Patrick’s salary should become $84,482. He is the only current provider for his entire family of four, including his wife, their child, and his elderly mother. His previous salary of $78,420 did not constitute a living wage for his family in his area (SLO County) therefore, just a little bit of a raise can help him support his family a lot easier.
Along with the increased salary, faculty gained two more weeks of paid parental leave as well as 13 other benefits such as paid leave, gender-inclusive bathrooms, more counselors, etc.
The parental leave and gender-inclusive bathrooms are what they presume should have been a norm, but “if you asked the same people to choose between several thousand dollars more per year or these sort of social justice gains, the vast majority would probably take the money,” says Patrick.
Furthermore, though some faculty are in the middle about whether this wage increase is good or bad, many have different opinions, and it’s hard to rule out whether or not this conclusion is fair.
According to ABC7 News, “Members of the California Faculty Association have voted to approve a new contract agreement with the CSU union officials, announced Monday [Feb. 19]”.
As the largest education sector strike in history, this message is sure to let management know that faculty are, “…tired of being exploited by inadequate pay…”. Learn more about the CSU Faculty Strike and any changes here.
Alex Coakley • Apr 12, 2024 at 9:39 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
On April 8, 2024 Brina Sastyangkul wrote “Teacher-Struggles to Strikes”. She starts of very strong and determined, explaining quickly and swiftly the meaning of “teacher burnout” and our very own teachers falling victim to it. She is very persuasive with her writing and even brings in an interview from John Patrick, a professor at Cal Poly SLO, adding a very important piece of information, that the 5% increase they were offered was previously offered in the past, not showing their urgency to pay them and keep them there. I like how everything is logically progressed and explained in detail. I’ve always heard about teachers being underpaid but never about strikes happening, i think this news story is really helpful in opening our minds as students to what our own teachers are going through in this school. We just assume sometimes are teachers are well off with each other or their bosses but they are more closely related to our student social life than we think and i just love that about this article.
Mikayla Brumbelow • Apr 11, 2024 at 1:34 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
On April 8, 2024, Brina Satsyangkul wrote an article titled “Teacher-Struggles to Strikes”. In the article, Satsyangkul discussed the struggles that teavhers face as they work and how they use strikes to get their concerts across to the CSU (California State University System). She also brings us a teacher strike that occurred on January 22, 2024, in which teachers were able to gain a 5% increase in their salary, two weeks paid paternal leave, inclusive bathrooms, and 13 other benefits. They didn’t fully achieve what they wanted though; they reached for a 12% salary increase. This strike was the second largest strike in history, showing management that these teachers are “tired of being exploited…”.
Satsyangkul did an excellent job describing the situation of teachers in LBUSD and giving details of how the teachers are feeling. I also like how she used an interview with with John Patrick to give more insight to the teachers experience and how they felt about the 5% increase. I do wish there could be more quotes from other teachers talking about the issue. Brina DId an amazing job with this article and I’d like if there was more covering of teachers issues so that more people are aware of their underpayment.
Aila Kubota • Apr 11, 2024 at 11:20 am
This is a very educational and informative article that focuses on the idea that teachers throughout all school systems endure many disrespectful and diminishing conditions. The article begins with a background about how throughout history many faculty members in the educational system continue to strike due to unfair treatment they receive although having a very important job that impacts the next generation of students and society. This background is very helpful to the audience because right from the beginning the reader is enlightened about the many ongoing, stressful years teachers have to go through. As the article continues Sastyangkul provides the details and statistics of the strike that occurred on January 22, 2024 which include that just after one day, tens of thousands of faculty members from the California Faculty Association gained a 5% increased raise and better circumstances. With Sastyangkul’s inclusion of the outcome of the strike, the audience are able to have their eyes opened to the reality that teacher’s suffer just as much, if not more than students. I really enjoyed reading this article because I was able to learn more about the disheartening truth that many of the faculty members such as John Patrick do not have enough to provide for their family with the little amount they are getting paid for the impactful work they do for our society. In addition to Sastyangkul’s inclusion of background information and the outcome of strikes, I really enjoyed how many resources and citations were provided due to the fact that it provides the audience with more information they can look upon to better educate themselves on the problem that is occurring. All in all, this is a very insightful article that I appreciated reading that allows for many student’s and head faculty member’s eyes to be opened about the serious hardships teachers in our school districts endure.
Andrew Oum • Apr 10, 2024 at 1:16 pm
This article was very informative and interesting due to the fact that this teacher strike was underwhelming and concluded very shortly. Previously, I have seen videos about the strike and conditions under which the teachers would agree, but I did not know it ended the same day. It is very sad to learn that the teachers accepted just a 5% increase after one day and I wonder how the agreement came so fast. The inclusion of Cal Poly SLO teacher John Patrick’s thoughts on the strike was the best part of the article and reading his perspective about the increase was very saddening. Teachers have always been underpaid and learning about just one teacher’s lack of living wage is heartbreaking. I also believe that parental leave and gender-inclusive bathrooms should be norms and it is very sad that the CSU officials compromised with these terms and a low increase in pay.
morgan nowak • Apr 10, 2024 at 10:57 am
Sastyangkul wrote an article where she highlights the strike of teachers within the California State University system (CSU). Sastyangkul does a good job at bringing attention to the teachers who are in need of more resources from the CSU. This includes the interview with John Patrick, who is a strong example of this. By including Patricks point of view, we are given a look into just one of the teachers who would strongly benefit from a wage increase and resources that the CSU could provide. Sastyangkul also gave us background information for the CSU strike that happened on January 22nd, 2024. We are given the knowledge that this strike took months to plan, had big goals, and even happened through the rainy weather. Those teachers went through all the trouble of making their voices heard, and didn’t even get half of the wage raise they asked for. I can see more teacher strikes happening in the future in hopes of getting accommodations they need.
Mya Ogden • Apr 10, 2024 at 9:26 am
The article speaks about the most recent teacher strike and the teacher union in protest due to their unfair treatment. Much of this unfair treatment includes being overworked and underpaid. I found this article very interesting and insightful due to the relevance of this article on the effect this job may have on teachers’ mental health. I have heard many of my teachers express their burnout and I found that very important that you brought that up. I found it very informative of not only bringing up the mental aspect this career could burden but also the financial. Bringing a college professor to speak upon the financial aspect of being a teacher and how the 5% increase for his salary from the strike has impacted his life shows the significance and importance for teachers to express their concerns. I found it informative that there was a compare and contrast from the salary before the strike and after the strike which allowed me to get a better understanding of the effect of the strike. Overall the article was very informative and gave me a better in depth understanding of this topic that I wasn’t very familiar with.
Alex Malleis • Apr 10, 2024 at 9:23 am
On April 8, 2024, Brina Sastyangkul wrote an article titled “Teacher-Struggles to Strike”. This article is very informative and helpful. I remember hearing about the strike when it was first happening and wanting to know more. I liked how you included the professor from SLO and his opinion into the topic as a CSU faculty member. I also liked how you included all the percentages and provided links so readers can look into the issue more. It was interesting to read that the strike ended so fast after it had just started. It was also cool to see that you acknowledged that just because the strike ended doesn’t mean that every faculty member may agree with the newly agreed terms and wages. Living wages are something that is very important for many families so reading that the professor will now have a livable wage was nice. I was unaware of the other terms that the CSU educators were demanding like the gender neutral bathrooms and paid parental leave. I thought they only wanted an increased wage so reading this article helped me understand the situation better. Overall this article was a good read and very well written.
Payton • Apr 8, 2024 at 9:48 pm
I love this brina, you expressed it beautifully and got an amazing take.