“As a public institution and one of the largest employers in the state, CSU must continue to create and support good jobs in our communities in order to help speed California’s recovery from the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.”
– Excerpt from letter sent to CSU from Secretary-Treasurer Jason Rabinowitz and Skilled Trades Director Drew Scott
These are challenging times. It is more critical now than ever to stand strong together.
Chancellor Timothy White announced May 12 that CSU plans to conduct most instruction during the Fall 2020 semester online, along the lines of what has occurred over the past couple of months in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This means campus operations would continue to be dramatically reduced compared to the status quo preceding the pandemic.
With projections that the California budget could face an unprecedented $54 billion deficit and a likely decline in Fall student enrollment, it’s clear that we will face enormous challenges going into the next fiscal year.
Our Union leaders took action shortly after the news broke by sending a letter to Chancellor White demanding to bargain the effects of this decision, strongly urging the chancellor to avoid layoff or furlough of our hard-working Skilled Trades Teamsters who have been and are essential to ensuring that CSU can continue to operate. Our members have worked on-campus throughout this crisis, risking their health to continue serving CSU students and the entire CSU community. We believe, through smart budgeting, $525 million in federal CARES Act stimulus funds, previously funded deferred maintenance projects, and the $1.7 billion CSU surplus, we can get through these tough times without laying off Skilled Trades workers. The CSU has the money and the projects to keep our members working through the Fall semester, regardless of their plans for continued virtual instruction. Between the large number of deferred maintenance projects and contracted-out work that could be in-sourced, there is plenty of work our members could do in the Fall.
Please reach out to your Union steward or representative if you see bargaining unit work being performed by outside contractors or new projects that could be done in-house being contracted out.
We will present our petition to the CSU Board of Trustees that strongly urges the CSU to ensure that workers will not suffer layoffs, curtailments, or other loss of pay and benefits as a result of this pandemic. If you have not yet signed the petition, please do so now by clicking here.
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