Building maintenance workers for the California State University system began a four-day strike on Tuesday at all 22 CSU campuses.
At San Diego State University, there was a midday picket on the Campanile Walkway.
Members of Teamsters Local 2010 said the CSU system is not honoring their contract. The union represents about 90 workers at SDSU and another 25 at CSU San Marcos.
“We're the carpenters, electricians, painters, locksmiths, air conditioning, refrigeration mechanics. That's what we do here. We maintain the campus and secure the campus for the students and staff,” said Carlos Sanchez, the union’s chief steward at SDSU. He’s also on the negotiating committee.
Sanchez said the CSU is engaging in an unfair labor practice, “simply because they won’t honor our third year of our contract. We had to strike in 2023 to get this three-year contract, and here we are striking again so they could honor the third year.”
Sanchez said CSU leadership has told the union that they don’t have enough guaranteed ongoing funding from the state to move forward. He said CSU instead offered a one-time 3% raise for their third year.
“Their ongoing budget is over $8.3 billion, but they have $2.3 billion in reserves. They never told us that they can't pay us. They just choose not to. Our raises for the 1,100 skilled trades workers that we have throughout the 22 campuses is roughly only $5 million a year. That's what our raises would cost,” Sanchez said.
In an online FAQ about its budget and labor agreements, CSU said "it is fulfilling its contractual obligation," and notes “certain salary increases scheduled for this year in the contract are contingent upon the State of California providing at least $227 million in new, unallocated, ongoing General Fund support to the CSU. The 2025 Budget Act does not meet that funding threshold.”
In a written statement Tuesday, the CSU said it values its employees and remains committed to fair, competitive pay and benefits.
The statement also said, "Agreements matter. The Teamsters agreed, in writing, to reopen bargaining if a certain level of new, ongoing funds were not received in 2025. That’s exactly where we are.”
Sanchez contends the CSU was given money from the state to pay the last year of their contract. “They gave them a one-time loan so that they could pay the raises,” he said. “And yet they said there's no money because there's no ongoing funding.”
CSU said it hopes the Teamsters “will return to good-faith negotiations so we can reach an agreement as soon as possible."
Sanchez said if there is no movement in the contract negotiations by Friday, then the union will reassess and decide what to do next.
