Teamsters #GoodJobs Lobby Day a Huge Success!

Teamsters Fill the State Capitol to Lobby for Funding for CSU Salary Steps!

Nearly 150 CSU workers filled the halls of the State Capitol on May 23 as Teamsters Local 2010 united with our fellow CSU unions to lobby the Legislature for fair pay and salary steps for CSU support staff! Eighty-six Teamsters traveled to Sacramento from as far away as San Diego to tell state leaders that they must approve the funding CSU needs to pay workers fairly.

As CSU Northridge Teamster Dave Unger said to Governor Newsom’s staff, “If the CSU is that special to California, prove it.”

We met with more than two dozen Assemblymembers, State Senators, and top aides over the course of the day — and dropped in to the offices of more — to ask legislators to support our request for $287 million in ongoing funding for CSU staff salaries. In a year when legislators have more than $97 billion in surplus money to spend, we hope and expect that our state’s wealth will be shared with the workers who make California higher education possible.

The dollar figure is based on the findings of a comprehensive salary study conducted last year and early this year by Mercer Consulting and commissioned by the CSU. Teamsters Local 2010 worked with CSUEU and CSU leaders to secure funding in the 2021 State Budget (Senate Bill 129) for this independent evaluation.

The findings of the study were clear: CSU support staff wages are stagnant due to the lack of a step structure, salary compaction is rampant, and staff salaries are well behind the market rate. The study recommended various improvements in the CSU pay structure, including a 9-step salary system to help support wage growth and a living wage for non-faculty staff, with a cost to the CSU totaling $287 million. The CSU knows it has left support staff behind and has joined worker unions in lobbying for this critical funding.

“Our members came out in force to demand the Legislature provide the funding to end the long-standing crisis at CSU of substandard pay practices. We have members who have worked in CSU 10, 20, 30 years who are stuck at the low end of their pay range. Our members have been making the sacrifices and keeping the place running without receiving a raise in almost three years. Teamsters and our sister Unions will keep fighting until we win the fair raises we deserve!”

In between the four hours of scheduled meetings, many members dropped in to open offices and spoke with legislative staff about the importance of this funding to workers and to the CSU system. We quickly ran out of the informational flyers we brought and used the copy machines of supportive legislative offices to make more!

“[The CSU] is my school. I’ve been there 26 years; I want to see it continue on. I don’t want to see it falter,” said Robert Stockler, CSU Dominguez Hills Lead Plumber and Teamster. “But the money’s just not there to bring in new people.”

We secured the firm support of Senators Nancy Skinner, Maria Elena Durazo, and Connie Leyva, and Assemblymembers Jim Patterson, Cecilia Aguiar Curry, and Freddie Rodriguez, representing both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature. Our $287 million ask is moving quickly through the state budget process and we will keep members informed as soon as developments occur.

Our union has never been stronger and together with our brothers and sisters at CSUEU, APC, and UAW, we showed state leaders exactly how powerful workers can be!

Share