Posts tagged California State University
Opinion: The United Academic Workers of America
October 6, 2026 // Yet while union workers lose their jobs, the UAW is expanding its administrative ranks. In 2014 the UAW raised dues to pad its strike fund, though much of the money has gone to adding overhead. Mr. Boyer, who is challenging Mr. Fain for president, pledges to “cut overspending,” reduce union dues, and “end the hiring of non-UAW members at excess salaries.” He says the union has added 23 “administrative assistants” and 12 “public relations specialists” since 2020, many of whom make two to three times as much as auto workers. The election is a test of whether the UAW exists to help workers, or the interests of union bosses and the priorities of the university left.
Labor Watch: St. John’s Axes Unions, CSU Strike Pays Off
March 5, 2026 // St. John’s is the second institution to use a religious exemption to shutter its union this academic year; in the fall, the Loyola Marymount University Board of Trustees announced it would no longer recognize its non-tenure-track faculty union and cease bargaining.
CALIFORNIA Teamsters to strike CSU over contract, pay disputes. What are impacts on Fresno State? Read more at: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/california/article314699198.html#storylink=cpy
February 16, 2026 // At dispute is an interpretation in the collectively bargained contract between the union and the CSU. The parties agreed that the salary increases were contingent on the state delivering funding through a five-year compact with the CSU, which included annual 5% increases. The state budget included a 3% reduction, about $144 million. It also included a one-time, $144 million, zero-interest loan that is to be paid back by July 1, 2026. The loan, according to the CSU, was offered to help bridge a temporary deferral of ongoing base funding until 2026–27. The union believes the CSU is fully funded, with the loan. The CSU believes that because the loan must be repaid, it cannot be used to support ongoing salary increases. It authorized the use of the loan for one-time payments to employees, subject to the collective bargaining process.
Cal State University unions seek notice of federal subpoenas in antisemitism investigation
December 10, 2025 // The conflict between Cal State and the employee unions comes amid a sweeping campaign by the White House to crack down on colleges and universities that it accuses of fostering political views with which it disagrees, including protesting Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and supporting the rights of transgender students. The University of California system and the University of Pennsylvania are among the colleges facing EEOC investigations alleging a hostile work environment for Jewish employees. Cal State says it has not received a subpoena related to the systemwide EEOC investigation and that there have not been any findings, settlement discussions or other federal actions in regard to it. The EEOC did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Cato Institute: Reforming Labor Union Laws
July 29, 2025 // The 1930s labor union laws were premised on the false idea that management and labor are enemies in the workplace, notes Baird. The reality is that individuals and businesses work together to produce products for consumers. Management and labor are complementary, not rivalrous, inputs to value generation in the economy. The new Cato study is a great introduction to federal labor union laws from a libertarian perspective. Baird concludes that American workers would enjoy more freedom and prosperity if the labor laws of the 1930s were repealed.
ASI workers vote to unionize
May 11, 2025 // Associated Students, Inc. employees at Sacramento State voted for unionization Thursday afternoon after a two-day election. Employees spent two months gathering signatures in order to be represented by the California State University Employees Union, a union representing other ASI employees throughout the CSU system. As unionized workers, ASI employees can bargain to determine benefits and wages according to an email sent to workers.
California State Union Approves Tentative Deal, Despite Dissent
February 22, 2024 // . Some members publicly campaigned against the deal, expressing disappointment that the strike didn’t last longer. “We know that some members had strong concerns about the process and questions about the result,” Sharon Elise, the union’s associate vice president of racial and social justice, South region, said in the release. “We will only be successful if we’re working together to continue building a CSU that empowers students and provides work environments that support faculty and staff.”
CSU faculty union approves contract with university that would raise salaries
February 20, 2024 // “We believe that accepting this deal leaves our economic and social-justice issues inadequately addressed, lets CSU off the hook with no systemic change, and fails to protect our students’ right to an accessible, affordable, high-quality education,” the Vote Down website says. “I felt that we were only just getting started in our power,” said Robin Dodds, a professor at California State L.A. who is involved with a campaign on her campus to vote no on the agreement. “I would prefer to go back to the bargaining table and continue to do better for the union.”
Cal State faculty start strike at largest US public university system
January 22, 2024 // “I have no interest in a strike. We are ready and willing to come back to the bargaining table with the California Faculty Association,” she said. “But we must work within our financial realities.” In contract negotiations earlier this month, the university agreed to 5 percent raises, which the union deemed inadequate. The university reached a labor agreement with its Teamsters union local over the weekend, which also prepared to strike. The strike follows a similar graduate student walkout at the University of California system in December 2022, which resulted in significant wage increases after 40 days of striking.
The Newest Union Members Are Undergrads
December 20, 2023 // With help from groups like the Service Employees International Union and the Office and Professional Employees International Union, students consolidated support for elections, contract talks and headline-making protests. Their muscle has surprised longtime observers of the labor movement, some of whom have wondered where, exactly, young adults learned some of the finer points of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. (Part of the answer: Instagram direct messages with organizers on other campuses.)