The California Faculty Association has been engaged in a “Fight for 5” on behalf of staff and faculty members at all 23 Cal State University campuses to get a five percent raise across the board, among other things. That fight came to an end on Friday when the CFA and CSU reached a tentative agreement that would put a stop to the impending strike set for April 13 to 15, 18 and 19.

According to CFA President and Cal State East Bay instructor Jennifer Eagan, the agreement met all of their demands and includes a five percent general salary increase on June 30, a two percent general salary increase on July 1 and a 3.5 percent general salary increase on July 1, 2017 for all faculty on active pay status or leave. The deal also includes a 2.65 percent service salary increase during 2017-2018 for all eligible faculty members.

The new agreement increases the length of the contract between the two parties for another year and will now expire on June 30, 2018. Eagan said bargaining for the next contract will begin on July 1, 2017

“That’s not a lot of rest time,” Eagan said in a statement on Friday. “We will need your help building power through membership and your fierce advocacy again very soon.”

In order to make the new agreement official it must be approved by the CFA Board of Directors, ratified by their members and then approved by the CSU Board of Trustees; something Eagan said members would be notified on how to do soon.

“The tentative agreement enables all of us to focus our efforts on serving students and spares students the negative impacts of the threatened strikes,” CSU Chancellor Timothy White said in a statement on Friday. “The tentative agreement is consistent with our ongoing efforts to increase faculty compensation in a fiscally responsible manner by spreading the cost impact across multiple academic years, while enabling us to fund other priorities that support student success and completion.”

The agreement came after a two-day “blackout period” where there was no media contact by any parties for 48 hours in an effort to resolve the dispute and diffuse the strike, according to both organizations.

Last year the CSU included a two percent raise across the board for faculty and staff in their 2015-2016 budget, however, the CFA has asked for a five percent raise as well as additional raises for adjunct and part-time staff members. A new stipulation in the contract could prevent this conflict in the future by adjusting the bargaining calendar so that both sides management teams will be able to negotiate before the CSU sends their budget request to the governor for approval.

A time table to ratify the tentative agreement had not been established by the CFA as of publication time.