FULLERTON – Cal State Fullerton faculty began voting Monday on whether to authorize their union to declare a strike.

The employees are part of the 24,000 California Faculty Association who are beginning a two-week-long vote after 22 months of negotiations failed to yield a new contract.

The union represents professors, librarians, coaches and counselors across the system’s 23 campuses.

“We are fighting for the future of the university,” said CSUF history professor Mougo Nyaggah, the union’s Fullerton chapter president. “We do not want to strike because we want to maintain a learning environment, but students cannot learn if the faculty is not working under suitable conditions.”

The vote comes three weeks after CSU trustees approved salary increases for incoming Fullerton President Mildred Garcia and another system president by 10 percent each, the maximum allowed under a cap the board adopted in response to criticism over excessive pay raises. At the same meeting, trustees revealed that state budget cuts may force system to eventually cut enrollment by up to 25,000 students and slash 3,000 jobs over the next two years.

“CSU trustees said they don’t have the money. At the same time, they have given these presidents large pay increases,” Nyaggah said.

Under the “rolling strike” plan, groups of campuses would go out on strike for two days each, one immediately after another.

The state cut $750 million in funding this year to the CSU and could cut an additional $200 million if Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed tax initiatives fail at the November ballot. Officials said cutting enrollment and jobs might be necessary without the tax extensions and without another round of steep tuition increases.

At Fullerton, union representatives set up a voting station early Monday outside the Humanities Building. Employees also have the option to vote online. The campus’ 1,015 union members will have until April 27 to vote.

Mikel Hogan, professor and chair on the Human Services department, voted for the strike.

“We need to preserve the quality of higher education in California,” she said. “I want my children to have the same opportunity to attend college that I had.”

Kay Devine, a part-time lecturer in the visual arts department, also voted for the strike because she said several years without a pay increase has made it difficult to continue teaching.

“We don’t have real job security. It’s very difficult to continue working without the commitment to faculty from the administration,” she said.

The union and the administration have been at impasse since the last three-year contract expired in June 2010. The union proposed extending the contract, but the administration opened talks for a new contract that culminated in an impasse April 6.

CSU spokesman Michael Uhlenkamp told the Associated Press the administration remains hopeful that a settlement can be reached. The next step in the legal bargaining process is the assignment of a fact finder by the state Public Employees Relations Board to hear both sides and propose a resolution.

If the fact finder’s proposal is rejected by either side, CSU Chancellor Charles Reed can impose the administration’s last contract offer and the union would decide whether to stage a walkout.

“It’s a bit premature to be discussing a strike vote,” Uhlenkamp said. “We’re still in the process of bargaining.”

Key issues include an administration proposal to freeze salaries at current levels, which have not changed since 2008, with a proviso that talks on pay and benefits would be reopened for 2012-13. The union has proposed a 1 percent raise.

The association last held a one-day walkout last November at two campuses to protest raises that went unpaid in 2008-09 and 2009-10 under the last contract.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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