Our Unit 6 Bargaining Team met with CSU on Aug. 10 and were disappointed that CSU did not make a counterproposal on our most recent salary and benefits proposals. This was despite an almost two-week gap since our last meeting where our team passed comprehensive salary and benefits article proposals. CSU’s Bargaining Team claimed this was due to delays in costing our benefits proposal and wanting to be able to assess where things stand more generally. We did not accept these excuses and made clear we expect a response at our next meeting on Aug. 19.
Rallies are coming up across the state as we fight for fair pay and real respect. Mark you calendar now!
During the session, CSU made the following proposals:
- On Article 1 – Recognition and Article 20 – Assignment/Reassignment, CSU responded to proposals we originally made in March by rejecting all of our proposed changes and counter proposed with current contract language. Our proposals included new classifications to address workplace needs and new language around reclassifications and protecting our bargaining unit work. We expect and demand that CSU engage more seriously with our good faith proposals than taking months to issue a blanket rejection of every proposed change.
- Article 7 – Union Rights: CSU made small movement on our requests for more frequent and comprehensive employee lists but rejected our proposal to reasonably increase hours available for steward training and continued to propose increasing the window the Union has to give advance notice for certain Union business leaves.
- Article 10 – Appointment: While CSU did restore current language around lists for limited hourly and temporary appointments that they previously proposed removing, CSU made no movement to address our proposed improvements in the temporary employee eligibility list, interview panel, or permanency for temporary employees.
- Article 18 – Leaves of Absence with Pay: In a win for our team, CSU accepted our proposal to increase the maximum number of workdays available for parental leave. Aside from this, CSU maintained their prior proposals and rejected our other proposed improvements made in line with legal changes, claiming an exemption from a State labor code provision we cited. We do not accept this as a valid excuse to treat our members worse than other workers across California.
We responded to CSU’s Article 18 – Leaves of Absence with Pay proposal and made movement while maintaining our position that broader legal standards around leaves should be in place at the CSU. Our team also rejected CSU language that sought to unnecessarily expand their ability to request documentation for bereavement leave. In addition to this, our team passed first proposals on Article 22 – Hours of Work and Article 23 – Overtime, which are both key articles that CSU sought to keep at current contract language.
For Hours of Work, our proposal would expand notice language around shift changes, create a fair process for shift bidding, improve the process for correcting issues in hours for those on alternate schedules, and increase the meal allowance amount that has not been updated in many years. For Overtime, our proposal would introduce double time after 12 hours worked in day, give all Unit 6 employees the opportunity to choose between compensatory time off (CTO) or pay for overtime, create a more equitable process for overtime assignments, improve call-back pay, and introduce a standby program that would pay Unit 6 workers who volunteer to be on standby after hours.
“CSU continues its pattern of bad faith and disrespect for its workforce, dragging its feet on bargaining wages even as workers have had no raises for over two years. Teamsters Local 2010 members are gearing up for action around the state as school opens up for the fall. Our Union will continue to stand up to CSU’s mistreatment of workers until we win the fair contract we deserve!”
Jason Rabinowitz
Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 2010
Our Unit 6 Bargaining Team will continue to fight back against CSU’s proposed takeaways while pushing for needed improvements in our contract language. Members are taking action across the state as students return to campuses to show CSU we mean business. Join your coworkers and members of other CSU Unions in standing up for fair pay and treatment for our essential work.
In Solidarity,
Our Teamsters CSU Bargaining Team
Chief Negotiator Jason Rabinowitz, Local 2010 Secretary-Treasurer
Ernesto Torres, CSU San Bernardino, Local 2010 Vice President and Skilled Trades Director
Christopher Rooney, CSU Northridge
Carlos Sanchez, CSU San Diego
Deborah Elia, CSU San Francisco
Jared Pecot, CSU San Luis Obispo
Steve Phillips, CSU Fullerton
Alex Vermie, Local 2010 Research Analyst
