Posts tagged San Francisco State University
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.”
California faculty at largest US university system launch strike for better pay
December 4, 2023 // The California State University chancellor's office says the pay increase the union is seeking would cost the system $380 million in new recurring spending. That would be $150 million more than increased funding for the system by the state for the 2023-24 year, the office said. Leora Freedman, the vice chancellor for human resources, said in a statement that the university system aims to pay its workers fairly and provide competitive benefits. “We recognize the need to increase compensation and are committed to doing so, but our financial commitments must be fiscally sustainable,” Freedman said.
San Francisco State University facing mass staffing cuts
October 6, 2023 // The move is part of a cost-savings measure by a system facing a troubling trend: Fewer San Franciscans are having children, meaning there are fewer young adults in California to attend the state universities. Kent Bravo, a spokesperson for San Francisco State, said the university had to deal with the reality of a shrinking student body: “We must rethink our operations to match current enrollment.” The faculty union, however, said the cuts are outsized and dramatic. “It’s very aggressive, and it’s out of scale,” said Brad Erickson, a full-time lecturer in the School of Liberal Studies, and president of the union’s San Francisco State chapter. He criticized the university for saying the cuts represented a “glide path” towards financial sustainability, and called the process “chaotic.”
Maryland Apple store workers face hurdles after their vote to unionize
June 22, 2022 // Ruth Milkman, Michael Duff, Josh Lipton,
$30 per hour to start? Staten Island Amazon union has high hopes, but could face a tough road after victory
April 29, 2022 // Among other things, the nascent Amazon Labor Union, or ALU, has said it wants longer breaks for warehouse employees, more time off and a dramatically higher minimum hourly wage of $30, up from just over $18 an hour now at the Staten Island facility.
Unions have enthusiasm, media spotlight. But membership numbers lag
January 28, 2022 // Glance at the numbers and the state of American unions looks bleak. Just 10.3% of American workers were union members last year, tied with 2019 for the lowest number on record. Membership has been dropping for decades.
Will the Starbucks union victories ignite organizing across the country?
January 17, 2022 // All this activism could simply evaporate — just another false dawn for unions — but it's also possible that we're at the dawn of a new era, one in which the working underclass is drawn, like the industrial workers of the 1930s, into the mainstream and the labor movement is empowered. But does being unionized then become just one more attribute of being a barista? Or does union success at Starbucks signal a nationwide organizing wave across the low-wage service sector? 2022 might just be the year we see the beginnings of a new American labor movement.