Urban Planning Professor Chris Tilly spoke to LAist about a tentative deal to settle a strike by California State University faculty. The union representing 29,000 coaches, counselors, lecturers, librarians and professors will vote on the agreement this week, and many are torn over whether they should support the deal or hold out for better terms. “Heated debate among membership is a good thing. Democratic unions with engaged memberships are healthier for it,” said Tilly, an expert on labor markets who also spoke with student media about the strike. Tilly noted that the agreement includes additional raises for the union’s lowest-paid members. “That’s something that unions don’t always attend to but is really important,” he said. “We have growing inequality. And in any workplace, the people at the bottom are the people that are struggling the most, and the fact that the union put a priority on that and won that is really a very positive thing.”