The California Faculty Association members should accept the tentative agreement.

Back pay would have been great, but for now a 10.5 percent guaranteed salary raise is a step in the right direction.

On Friday, the California State University faculty members announced a tentative agreement that would not only give them the 5 percent salary raise that they were seeking but would also give them a 2 percent increase effective July 1, and a guaranteed 3.5 percent salary raise effective July 1, 2017.

Receiving a 10.5 percent overall raise over the next three years seems like a very attractive proposal for the CSU Bakersfield faculty.

However, taking into consideration that the agreement doesn’t account for back pay, if you really look at the agreement it looks less enticing than initially expected.

Since the 5 percent raise won’t technically go into effect until the last day of the 2015-16 fiscal year, that means that the faculty won’t really see that 5 percent until the 2016-17 fiscal year.

So what about that 2015-16 fiscal year? Should faculty accept an agreement that doesn’t offer them back pay?

The initial proposal from the CSU officials offered a 2 percent raise. Faculty did not accept that proposal and instead sought a 5 percent raise. After months of deliberation and a planned strike that was set to begin April 13, the CFA leaders and the CSU officials came to a tentative agreement that fulfilled the initial goals that the CFA sought for the CSU faculty.

All in all, the CFA has fought  hard and endured years of not receiving fair salary increases. The 5 percent increase was fair, but the overall 10.5 percent was well deserved.

The CFA membership will vote on the agreement toward the end of April. If accepted the agreement will then go to the CSU Board of Directors and will be expected to be approved during the May 24-25 board meeting.