Picket lines went up at California State University (CSU) campuses across the state Tuesday, including San Diego State University (SDSU), as a contract with the university system's largest labor union was set to expire at midnight.
Dozens of California State University Employees Union (CSUEU) workers in San Diego joined hundreds of others across the state to demand fair wages, chanting, “Stand up, fight back!” as they marched around a courtyard in front of Manchester Hall, where SDSU President Adela de la Torre's office is located.
“We want to be able to support our families,” said Tamika Lovelace, an administrative coordinator at SDSU.
CSUEU represents more than 36,000 staffers and student workers across the California State University system — from groundskeepers to nurses to office workers — who keep the university running.
“We are the people that operate the university,” said Matt Lang, an executive board member of CSUEU's SDSU Chapter 318.
The union has been negotiating with the CSU since early May, but its contract expired midnight Tuesday.
“We’re asking to be placed on our steps properly,” Lang said. “I've talked to folks that their increases would have been close to 30%, and they did not get that. And so we're trying to fight to get those people onto the proper step structure and to get their proper increase.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a final agreement for next year's budget, which provides funding increases for the CSU system.
In a statement, the CSU said the budget will allow it to cover mandatory costs and fund other key priorities, such as employee compensation.
“So the CSU really doesn't have any reason to not pay us our proper salary structure,” Lang said.
For Lovelace, a wage increase would mean she wouldn't have to consider taking a second job to make ends meet, something she said she is now considering. She said the union is ready to strike if necessary.
“But we're hoping not to get there,” Lovelace said. “We want to have a seat at the table, and we want our negotiators to be taken seriously.”
The union said a strike could significantly disrupt operations across the nation's largest four-year public university system.
“We're kind of like the linchpin,” Lovelace said. “If you think in the system, if you pull us out, like the whole system falls.”
In a statement, the CSU said it is committed to bargaining in good faith with the union.
