CSU Labor Strike

Aaron Draper speaks to fellow members of the California Faculty Association union. 

This strike continues a national trend of laborers standing up for their rights as rising inflation and housing prices continue to adversely impact the working class. Many claim that businesses will need to increase prices on products to afford an increase in wages. However, a raise is nullified when prices for products increase along with the raise. An alternative solution is to reduce shareholder profits or reduce top executive pay. Executive pay has long been disproportionate to that of workers. From 1978-2022 CEO pay increased 1,209.2% while workers’ pay increased 15.37%. In 2022 alone, CEOs were paid 344 times as much as a typical worker in contrast to 1915 when they were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker. This pay discrepancy is unsustainable and leads to workers not being able to afford the products they help create.