Negotiations between California State University and the California Faculty Association, the union who represents faculty at CSU’s 23 campuses, broke down Monday over changes to a proposed salary increase.

CFA represents 23,000 workers in the CSU system including instructors, lecturers and librarians at SF State.

The conflict stems from an informal offer made by the administration for a 3.5 percent general salary increase. CFA claims that after the initial offer was made, unacceptable conditions were added to the proposal.

“We call on the CSU administration to agree to an immediate 3.5 percent general salary increase,” a CFA press release said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

CSU and the CFA have been in contract negotiations since last Spring, and while having reached an agreement on several issues from union security to intellectual property rights, the issue of merit pay and how it will be funded and structured has prompted the CFA to call for a cooling off period, which Gov. Schwarzenegger must approve.

Stephen Strafaci, Assistant Vice Chancellor of the CSU system, wrote in a bargaining status report that negotiations turned to faculty compensation issues in which each party explored several options.

According to the CFA, junior faculty members have a serious salary problem and should receive a Service Salary Increase (SSI) to help cope with the cost of living. They are also demanding that all faculty receive the 3.5 percent General Salary Increase (GSI) that had been agreed upon in earlier negotiations.

Strafaci wrote that there were two proposals by CSU: a 3.5 percent GSI for all faculty, and a 2.65 percent GSI for all faculty with a 2.65 percent SSI for eligible faculty.

CFA proposed two options. The first is a 3.5 percent GSI for all faculty with no conditions relating to SSI or merit pay. The second proposal calls for the same pay increase with the creation of committees to further investigate merit pay and SSI.

Representatives for CSU and the CFA were not immediately available for comment.