CSUMB teachers march over salary and workload grievances, but CSU officials say a resolution is near.

The teachers wore black, holding signs with slogans like “RIP My Salary” and “RIP Fair Workload,” chanted “What do we want? Fair contract! When do we want it? Now!”

It’s been 100 days since CSU teachers saw their contracts expire with the state university system, and over 20 faculty members and a handful of students gathered this afternoon in front the Tanimura & Antle Library at CSU Monterey Bay for a “memorial” service to mourn the loss of their contracts.

Teachers spoke to those gathered about their grievances, which primarily centered around salary and workload issues. In literature distributed at the event by California Faculty Association (CFA), the teacher’s union, the issues of contention were spelled out in detail.

Some of the biggest of those issues are a stagnation of salaries for all faculty, who have not had salary increases for seven years, and an “experience penalty” in which teachers hired during the recession earn less than recent hires.

About 30 minutes into the memorial, the teachers commenced marching side-by-side around the campus quad, eventually stopping right in front of Building 1, which houses the office of CSUMB President Eduardo Ochoa.

The teachers were then invited by CSUMB faculty member Steven Levinson, who was leading the march, to share their own stories. Rob Weisskirch, a professor of human development, was one of them.

“Clearly, the priority on our campus is for administration. It’s putting more money in the positions, and into proliferating the number of administrators than it is to compensate faculty fairly,” Weisskirch said. “Now in my 14th year, I am in the lowest 10 percent [of pay] of professors on our campus. Systemwide, I’m even lower.

“It is important that our president shows leadership and is not toeing the CSU line,” Weisskirch added. “[On this campus] we believe in social justice. Well President Ochoa, social justice begins at home.”

None the teachers present seemed to know, however, that the light has already appeared at the end of the tunnel.

“We have agreed in principal for a framework agreement that’s going to resolve all issues,” says Mike Uhlenkamp, CSU’s director of public affairs, who adds negotiations have been ongoing for months. “We are going to be meeting next week and have a tentative agreement finalized.”