After more than half a year of failed negotiations to increase their pay by 12% and expand other benefits, the faculty of the California State University today began a historic strike at all 23 campuses.The planned one-week work stoppage is the first time the California Faculty Association has walked off the job at every campus since the union was founded in 1983. It’s part of an escalation of tactics by the faculty group, which staged one-day strikes at four campuses last month and vowed then to up the ante if their demands weren’t met.

“It’s a constant struggle to make ends meet,” said Dirk Horn, a full-time political science lecturer at Cal State Bakersfield who augments his salary of just under $63,000 by teaching at nearby community college locations, other schools and picking up gigwork as an Uber driver. Some days, his teaching shifts require nearly 80 miles of driving across three campuses.Receiving the raises the union is seeking would let him work less — and earn more.“I wouldn’t have to seek those outside income sources because I’d be able to pay my bills, essentially, with my one full-time job,” Horn said.For Cal State, the strike represents a likely loss of learning for many of its nearly 460,000 students at the nation’s largest public four-year university system. The systemwide strike coincides with the first day of spring term at most campuses, and while workers have the right to strike, they also have the right to buck the union.

“Faculty may choose to teach their courses as scheduled,” said Leora Freedman, who heads human resources at Cal State, at a Friday press conference.

All campuses will remain open, said Mildred Garcia, system chancellor, at a press conference Friday. So far there are no plans to extend the length of the spring term.

About 25 picketers showed up at Cal State Los Angeles on a rain-soaked morning, their ranks gradually increasing as the droplets dissipated.

“Hey hey, beep beep, the CSU is mighty cheap,” the faculty chanted as they intermittently blocked traffic on the main road at the campus.

Honoring the union’s demands would lead to layoffs and cuts to student services, Freedman said, echoing past Cal State statements. The faculty union maintains the university can afford it.

A striking worker teaches no classes, avoids meeting with students during office hours and answers no work-related emails. Working partially could jeopardize a faculty member’s right to strike, the union warns.

The faculty union represents 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, sports coaches and mental health professionals. Negotiations between the labor group and Cal State management to ward off this week’s strike broke down two weeks ago, further entrenching both camps. They haven’t bargained since, said Kevin Wehr, bargaining team chair for the union and a professor at Sacramento State.

The smaller Teamsters Local 2010, a labor group of 1,100 skilled maintenance workers, agreed to a contract with Cal State negotiators Friday, canceling their planned strike this week.

Salary and benefits impasse

The faculty union and Cal State officials are far apart on pay. The university offered to provide a 5% raise, not the 12% the union is seeking for this year as a way to combat recent spikes in inflation that diminished the buying power of faculty salaries. Cal State’s 5% offer is consistent with the deals it finalized with other unions last year to avoid an even larger walkout of all the roughly 60,000 unionized workers. Cal State negotiators have also proposed to extend parental leave for faculty from six weeks to eight weeks, still less than the full semester that the union wants.

An independent fact-finder affiliated with the state recommended that Cal State provide the faculty union a 7% raise — an amount the faculty union said is too low. If there’s to be a compromise, it’ll land somewhere between 7% and 12%.University negotiators have offered the faculty 15% raises over three years, contingent on growing state funding — no sure thing as California eyes multi-billion-dollar deficits. The faculty refuses to accept any raises that are conditional.Lecturers and professors earn between $64,000 and $122,000 on average. Wages for the lowest-paid faculty have risen about 20% on average since 2007, but grew by about 40% for campus presidents, whose average salaries are now more than $400,000. The new system chancellor, Mildred Garcia, earns close to $1 million from pay as well as car and housing allowances.

Cal State’s 5% offer is consistent with the deals it finalized with other unions last year to avoid an even larger walkout of all the roughly 60,000 unionized workers.

English lecturer Laura Quinn is basically working two full-time teaching jobs to earn $86,000 annually. At Cal State San Bernardino and the private University of Redlands combined, she taught 27 units in the fall semester. Typically, 15 units is considered full-time.

“The majority of lecturers that I know are working on two or three campuses trying to cobble together a living wage, and that’s not good,” she said.

One major impediment to providing the faculty union a higher general raise? The university secured labor deals with other unions that include reopening salary negotiations if any other union received more than a 5% raise.Other disputes aren’t about pay. For example, the union wants lactation rooms with door locks for new parents. Cal state labor negotiators say the university already complies with the labor codes for pumping breastmilk. The faculty union also seeks more mental health counselors, among other demands.Cal State negotiators said they would agree to 13 of the 15 recommendations the fact finder provided in December — but not on salary.

Docked pay

Cal State vows to dock the pay of workers who strike. “It is a misuse of taxpayer dollars for the CSU to compensate any employee who withholds work,” wrote Amy Bentley-Smith, a Cal State spokesperson.Faculty who strike for a week can expect pay reductions of about 3%, she added.

Union leaders are urging all members to walk the picket lines and avoid work, even the lowest-paid workers who earn the equivalent of $54,000 annually.Nearly two-thirds of faculty are in the bottom half of the four pay ranges, a union spokesperson told CalMatters. And a majority of those workers earn the lowest salaries in those ranges. In 2022, the lowest levels were $54,000 and $65,000 for the two ranges. The union is demanding that Cal State raise those minimum salaries by $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.All campuses except San Francisco State, where spring term starts next week, are encouraging students to report their instructors if they canceled classes this week, according to a CalMatters review of campus websites. “If a class or service is cancelled, you are welcome to share that information with us here so that we can best assure continuity and fulfillment of instruction,” Cal State Northridge wrote to students, using language common across all the other campuses that are asking students for that information.

“The majority of lecturers that I know are working on two or three campuses trying to cobble together a living wage, and that’s not good.”
— Laura Quinn, English lecturer at Cal State San Bernardino

Students in solidarity with faculty are pushing back. On the social media platform Reddit, some students across multiple campuses proposed flooding those reporting forms with fake professor names or complaints about administrators instead.

“It just feels wrong that they’re trying to drag us students into it and have us turn on our professors,” said Jasmine Puente, a Cal State Long Beach student. “A lot of students just don’t want to do that. We want to stand by our professors and we don’t want to be a part of taking them down.”As an aspiring teacher coming from a family of educators — including her mom who teaches elementary school and is president of her local union — Puente grew up supporting educators and unions. She recently graduated with a history degree from Cal State Long Beach and is currently working on her single-subject credential.

Meanwhile, the faculty union said that Cal State leaders are asking all faculty to self-report if they didn’t work this week. The union told its members that they’re not obligated to inform their campuses about their intent to strike, but should answer truthfully in the event their managers ask afterward if they walked off the job. The faculty union message added that while Cal State is “legally able to dock the pay of striking faculty, keep in mind that we will recover this and much more when we win a fair contract.”

The union cannot coerce members to strike nor can faculty require students to take part in labor action in exchange for a grade, various campus FAQs say. Similarly, campus managers are barred by law from punishing workers who picket.

Budget disputes

Throughout the negotiations, Cal State said it cannot afford the faculty union’s demands. The system last May revealed that it spends $1.5 billion less than needed to adequately educate its students. That finding prompted Cal State’s board of trustees last September to usher in consecutively escalating tuition hikes starting this fall — increases totaling 34% over five years. However, most undergraduates don’t pay any tuition because they receive enough state and system financial aid. The faculty union opposed those hikes.“The union stood by us and tried to fight against the tuition hikes,” Puente, the Long Beach State student, said. “I think that we as students can stand by them too.”

The labor group’s leaders hired an accounting professor last fall who concluded that Cal State reroutes more than enough annual surpluses toward its own reserves that could instead go toward student services and faculty pay. The annual surpluses are so high that the university wouldn’t need to touch the money it’s already stored in savings to pay the faculty union’s salary demands, the accounting professor said. University officials refute that contention, saying they must build a financial cushion to withstand economic turmoil and presently fall well short of their own savings goals.Despite new revenue from the tuition hikes and extra dollars Gov. Gavin Newsom promised, system finance analysts said last year that Cal State would still run deficits under a scenario in which all university workers receive 5% raises.A wider set of contract items will be up for negotiation this June. The current labor acrimony risks spilling into those quickly approaching bargaining sessions.

###

CalMatters College Journalism Network fellows Haydee Barahona, Briana Mendez-Padilla and Elizabeth Wilson contributed to this story.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Brianna passed away January 5, at her residence in Eureka. She will be fondly remembered as a strong, beautiful, talented, stylish woman whose bright smile and green sparkling eyes could light up any room.

Brianna was born October 30 in a mountain cabin nestled in the Eastern Sierras near Mammoth Lakes, California. Her early life was spent hiking, swimming and snowboarding. Her interests were varied. While attending Bishop school, Brianna showed her skill as a talented, creative, and prolific writer winning top awards for her stories. She was academically acknowledged yearly on the school’s honor roll. Bri won top medals in track when she was chosen for the Junior Olympics. She loved dancing, especially tap and freeform, and she was also involved in the chess club, school band (where she played flute), as well as softball. She threw a mean curve ball as star softball pitcher, often leading her team to “no hitter” games.

After high school, she continued her education by attending Santa Barbara City College and College of Marin, where she continued her creative path, focusing on painting and drawing. Bri became one of College of Marin’s student artists involved in the original “Faces of the Fallen” art project, honoring the first 1,000 young soldiers to perish in the Iraq war. Bri had a unique impressionistic painting style. She possessed insight into drawing faces that revealed the essence of her subject.

Brianna moved from Santa Barbara to Humboldt to be with her family in 2011. She loved the area and enjoyed quiet walks with her dog Jax in Sequoia Park and the Headwaters. She frequented Zen centers and her sense of simplicity and love for beauty expressed itself in everything she did from cooking to fashion.

Brianna found her passion working with children in the local school system and more recently with persons with disabilities, where her kind and caring nature found an outlet.

Bri is survived by her parents Christopher and Carole Haben of Eureka, brother Alexander and sister Desen Haben of Ferndale, and nephews Kieran and Phoenix who knew her as playful “Auntie Bri.” She will be missed by her large extended family of cousins, aunts, and uncles in Michigan, Florida and Louisiana.

Brianna’s loving presence will remain with all who knew her and she will live on through her works and always in our hearts.

The family will hold a small private outdoor memorial.

In lieu of flowers the family is asking for donations to:

NAMI Humboldt County
PO Box 1225
Eureka, CA 95502-1225

###

Born to Pearl and Ada Belle Kesterson on January 14, 1931.

Neal had a typical childhood growing up in Chico and graduated from high school in 1949. In September of that year he enrolled in Chico State College on a two-year program majoring in Drafting and Mapping. In January 1951, not wanting to be drafted, he enlisted in the U S. Coast Guard. He spent four months in boot camp, one year on a sea-going buoy tender operating between San Francisco and the Oregon border. He then volunteered for overseas duty and spent one year on top of a hill northeast of Pusan, Korea on a mobile Loran station. He returned to the United States and spent his last eight months working with the U.S. Customs on port security in Philadelphia and was honorably discharged in January 1951.

Neal returned to Chico and worked part time using the GI bill and re-entered Chico State College. He changed his major to a four-year program majoring in Industrial Arts and Applied Science. In college he was a member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and a member of the college football team. In the summer between his junior and senior year he met the love of his life and future wife, Pat Heney, and they both graduated in June 1958, and were married in June 1959. They were married for 64 wonderful years.

After graduation Neal spent six years in the missile industry in Sacramento, Beale Air Force Base, and Santa Barbara. While in Santa Barbara, their daughter Kris and son Michael were born. In June 1959, the government stopped all funding on the Titan missile and Neal and hundreds of others lost their jobs. He returned to Sacramento and acquired a job with Teichert & Son, a general contractor. There he managed and inspected various construction projects.

In 1967 while on vacation in Fortuna he acquired a job with Winzler & Kelly Consulting Engineers in Eureka, where he worked on multiple engineering jobs in Humboldt County. Having a state of California building inspector license, his main job was building construction inspection. He retired from Winzler & Kelly in 1996 after 28 years.

While still employed and after retirement, Neal spent 16 years on the City of Fortuna Planning Commission and four one-year terms as its chairman. He also spent five years on the Fortuna Design Review Board and a one-year term as its chairman. Neal was also a 22-year member of Elks Lodge 652. While retired, Neal spent multiple hours in his shop making various signs out of horseshoes and light fixtures out of deer horns. He even made a two-person, four-wheel bike from scratch just for the heck of it.

Neal and family had two recreational spots: a lease lot on Ruth Lake for 25 years and a camp on the family ranch at Petrolia where they and their friends spent many fun-filled vacations. After they retired, Neal and Pat took many wonderful trips: cross country to the east coast taking in Mardi Gras on the way, to Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, China, twelve different countries in Europe, and cruises to Alaska and through the Panama Canal. They also took many snow skiing trips to various locales.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his son Michael. Those surviving him are his wife Pat, his daughter Kris (Tom) his granddaughter Brittany Powell (Lyndon), great granddaughter Mila, great grandson Levi, granddaughter Nicole Whitmire (Chase) and great granddaughter River, his sister Lorlene, and his nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his cat “Buddy.”

At Neal’s request there will be no services. His ashes will be placed by his son’s ashes at the Petrolia ranch.

On October 15, 2023 our loving son and friend Dale Patrick Rader born on Dec. 5, 1984, unexpectedly passed away.

He was a gentle and kind-hearted soul. The kind of person that would give the shirt off his back to anyone. He always had a smile on his face no matter the circumstances. He had a connection to nature and animals, especially the redwoods. Dale always called Humboldt his home. He was an artist who was well versed in art history.

Dale spent his elementary years in Rio Dell with his mom, Karen, visiting his dad and family in Cheyenne, Wyoming, playing basketball and hanging out with his friends.

He was a peaceful, easy-going young man. He will be missed by all that knew and loved him. He is survived by his mother, Karen Fay Rader (Griess) of Rio Dell, and father, Robert Ray Rader of Cheyenne, Wyo., and many other family and friends.

We are planning to have a gathering in remembrance of Dale this spring in Rio Dell.

###

ARTHUR: Go and tell your master that…he can join us in our quest for the Holy Grail.

GUARD: Well, I’ll ask him, but I don’t think he’ll be very keen…He’s already got one…

— Monty Python and the Holy Grail

###

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (1828-1882) The Damsel of the Sanct Grael (Public domain)

Sometime around the year 1400, English historian John Hardyng noticed a curious ambiguity in the French phrase san-gréal, which until then had meant “Holy Grail,” a grail being a cup (from Ancient Greek krater, a wine mixing bowl). The legend of the grail had been around since 1180, when the great French storyteller, Chrétien de Troyes, introduced a (not the) grail into his romances about King Arthur. Originally a dish carrying a single communion wafer, another French romancer, Robert de Boron, soon morphed de Troyes’ grail into The Holy Grail, the vessel in which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood of Christ when he was taken down from the cross. The ambiguity, spotted two centuries later, is that san-gréal can be parsed as sang-réal, that is, “royal blood.” A trivial coincidence which, six hundred years later, would help create a bestseller (80 million copies!) and blockbuster movie thanks to novelist Dan Brown: The DaVinci Code.

To be clear, there’s zero evidence for a grail, holy or not, between the purported death of Christ on the cross and the writing of Chrétien de Troyes. The “Grail Tale” originated entirely from the rich imagination of this French romance writer who lived over a thousand years after the time of the Biblical story.

Today, though, it’s part of our heritage, along with stories, embellished and embroidered over the years, that include the siege of Troy, the founding of Britain by Brutus, King Charlemagne’s knights, and the “Once and Future King” (Arthur), which will keep storytellers and moviemakers busy for the foreseeable future.

Saying it’s all a myth, of course, won’t stop True Believers from searching for the Holy Grail, either in the form of a cup (there’s one in Genoa Cathedral, another in Valencia, Spain) or in its “royal blood” identification. The latter was, of course, the basis of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, in which Jesus married Mary Magdalene and sired a royal blood line, the sang-réal, a legend that has carried down to the present day. The tale of Jesus’ wife, perhaps originating with the Gnostic Gospel of Philip (Jesus “kissed her often”), was given fresh impetus in the 13th century by the Cathars (“pure ones”), a breakaway Christian sect that thrived briefly in southern France and northern Italy. More recently, Dan Brown’s novel (based on a previous mashup of old and new stories, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail) invokes the centuries-old machinations of the “Priory of Sion” to keep the bloodline secret. Only problem is that the Priory of Sion wasn’t founded until 1956!

It’s all great fun, of course, but beyond being the world’s greatest MacGuffin, the Holy Grail doesn’t stand up to much inspection. And no, the “woman” next to Jesus in Leonardo’s Last Supper painting (much restored) isn’t Mary Magdalene, it’s the Apostle John. He may need a haircut, as does James (second from left), but I’m hardly one to complain.

###

Press release from the Humboldt Creative Alliance:

The Humboldt Creative Alliance (HCA), a collective of local arts organizations, has drafted a funding allocation plan with the county of Humboldt to make funds available through grants for artists, culture bearers, arts and culture organizations, and underserved communities, through the recently passed increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax, also known as measure J. HCA organizational member, the Ink People Center for the Arts, along with other HCA partner organizations, Centro Del Pueblo, Playhouse Arts, and North Coast Repertory Theater, will manage the distribution of funds to various arts and culture endeavors and grant programs. These grants include the Underserved Communities Fund, the Outdoor Events Fund, the Organizational Capacity Grants, and the Funds for Artists Resilience Grant Program.

Centro del Pueblo is proud to announce the Underserved Communities Fund (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, and other underserved peoples) for artists, culture bearers, and community-based organizations. This fund will support a diverse range of projects originating from the heart of these vibrant communities. Applications open January 31st, with an informative workshop on February 2nd. Visit Cdpueblo.com for updates and contact grants@cdpueblo.com for more information.

The Outdoor Events Fund will be used to support art, live music, performances and other celebrations in outdoor or other public settings, and will be managed by Playhouse Arts and NCRT, who will be collaborating with cities, communities, and other organizations throughout the county. Community informational meetings on the Outdoor Events Fund will be held in person on Saturday, February 10, at noon at the Arcata Playhouse, 1251 9th St, Arcata, and via Zoom on February 17 from 2-4pm. To learn more, write to info@arcataplayhouse.org or northcoastrepertory@gmail.com

Organizational Capacity Grants will support arts and culture organizations throughout Humboldt County to develop and staff programs, while supporting innovation. These grants are for existing nonprofit and fiscally sponsored arts and culture organizations and are intended to create opportunities for programs to strengthen their work in the community. The grant program will open on March 1st and will be facilitated by the Ink People Center for Arts and Culture.

The Ink People Center for the Arts announces the Funds for Artists Resilience Grant Program, which will provide grants for projects that benefit the community. This opportunity supports the implementation of creative strategies and adaptive responses to address the challenges of our times. Grant awards will be between $2,000-$7,500, and can be awarded to artists for projects including, but not limited to: community workshops; forums and symposiums that address community needs; projects that address public health, safety, or environmental concerns; public art such as murals, performances, or socially engaged practices; and programs that improves the quality of life for Humboldt County residents and visitors. Grant applications open on Friday, January 19 at 3pm. An informational zoom workshop will take place on Thursday, January 25 at 5pm. Consultation will also be available for community members who would like additional support in applying.

ABOUT THE HUMBOLDT CREATIVE ALLIANCE The Humboldt Creative Alliance (HCA) is a collective of Humboldt County artists and arts administrators formed with the intent of promoting visibility of the arts and their impact in Humboldt County. The HCA envisions a vibrant, healthy community filled with innovative, creative thinkers and makers, with a purpose to connect artists, arts organizations, and community members, and champion collaboration throughout the county. The HCA is an ad hoc group, and all are welcome to join and participate. More information can be found by visiting https://www.humboldtcreativealliance.org.

ABOUT THE HUMBOLDT COUNTY TRANSIENT OCCUPANCY TAX AND ARTS FUNDING The Humboldt County Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) is a bed tax on overnight tourist stays in unincorporated areas of the County. In 2023, voters passed measure J, which increased the tax from 10% to 12%. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted to allocate a portion of the 2% increase in revenue to the arts and culture sector, as an initial pilot program.

The Fund for Artists Resilience (F.A.R) grant link is available here: https://inkpeopleinc.submittable.com/submit/b8bbae32-b459-409f-ba18-a9727e67a618/far-202 4-funds-for-artists-resilience

To sign up for the informational meeting on the F.A.R grant, please follow this link below: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlcOmppjkiHNJT4AnDA5yrYd85kl5zbSUD

Outdoor Events zoom link for February 17 at 2 pm: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87978758797?pwd=cWF0MzIvRjlKRmdHTk5laUg2RmFEUT09

In politically progressive circles, a strange phenomenon can occur. Supply skepticism, the belief that housing prices are divorced from impacts to housing supply, abounds.

On this week’s EcoNews Report, Professor Vicki Been from the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, joins to discuss her metaanalysis of research into the relationship between housing supply and cost. (Hint: More housing moderates housing costs, generally.)

REQUIRED READING:

• Supply Skepticism (2018)
• Supply Skepticism Revisited (2023)