Today marks history—the last day of the first-ever week-long, statewide strike at the CSU.
At nearly two dozen campuses of the country’s largest public university system, Teamsters have brought the power. We, the workers who form the foundation of the CSU, who enable the work of every other student, teacher, and administrator on campus, have brought the power.
And we haven’t been alone. At every campus we’ve been joined by students, local leaders, community members, kids, dogs, mariachi bands and inflatable bears. Perhaps most importantly, we’ve been joined every day, at every picket line, by our sisters and brothers at CSU: the Union workers of the California Faculty Association, the CSU Employees Union, the Academic Professionals of California, and United Auto Workers Local 4123. As we have turned out for our fellow Unions, they’ve turned out for us.
Together, we’re fighting for a CSU that truly treats its workers fairly. No more broken contracts, no more forgotten promises, no more raises for executives but not workers.
Yesterday, we rallied at San Diego State University. With our fellow workers and Union leaders we called out CSU’s pattern of labor abuses and broken promises, as well as CSU’s misinformation that Local 2010 has refused to meet them at the bargaining table and bargain in good faith. To set the record straight: we have.
Today, we close out our strike with a rally at Cal State Los Angeles, joined once again by our friends and allies, including State Senator Maria Elena Durazo and Teamsters Vice President, and Secretary-Treasurer of Local 399, Lindsay Dougherty. At every campus, we close out Teamsters strong. ✊
“With our historic strike, we are exposing CSU’s greed and unfair treatment of workers for all of California to see. We are winning unprecedented support from elected officials, students, the labor movement and the public. We are conducting strong, effective pickets at every campus in the system, turning back deliveries and shutting down construction. Without our members at work, CSU is having all kinds of maintenance problems, showing that our work is critical to the University. Our strike and pickets continue this week and we will keep fighting until we win the fair treatment we deserve!”
Jason Rabinowitz
Secretary-Treasurer
