(OAKLAND, Calif.) – After a year of tough bargaining, countless rallies, statewide pickets, two effective strikes, and the readiness of 1,100 workers to stage a five-day unfair labor practice strike at the start of the Spring term, Skilled Trades members of Teamsters Local 2010 at California State University (CSU) campuses have ratified their strongest-ever union contract.

Approximately 84 percent of CSU Teamsters voted over the past three weeks and 91 percent voted to approve the new collective bargaining agreement. The overwhelming majority is a testament to the strength of the contract, which restores salary steps after 28 years, brings every Unit 6 worker to the step associated with the number of years they have worked in their classification, provides unprecedented raises to all, and protects workers’ benefits, emergency pay, and rights at work.

“We won this historic contract and the return of salary steps after 28 years by standing together as Teamsters and showing CSU that we are ready to do whatever it takes to win fair treatment,” said Jason Rabinowitz, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 2010. “Our members showed unprecedented strength and determination in this battle. Looking ahead, we intend to maintain and build on that strength to enforce our contract and stay ready for the fights ahead, including when we return to the table in fall 2025 to bargain our next contract and build upon what we have achieved in this one.”

Teamsters at CSU joined together in a coalition of union members early in 2023, including California Faculty Association (CFA), California State University Employees Union (CSUEU), Academic Professionals of California (APC), UAW Local 4123, and the Union of Physicians and Dentists (UAPD). CSU worker salaries across the board have been suppressed with no reliable and regular way for workers to move up their salary scale since salary step increases were removed by the CSU Trustees in 1995. Since joining Local 2010 in 2017, CSU Skilled Trades workers have been leading the campaign to fix the university’s broken salary structure by finally restoring step increases.

Teamsters held a statewide strike on November 14, 2023, in protest of the CSU’s multiple unfair labor practices and bad-faith bargaining. Teamsters joined CFA in a four-day, four-campus strike in December, and were ready to take a five-day statewide strike at the beginning of the spring semester in January. CSU came back to the bargaining table with Teamsters just days before the scheduled January strike and agreed to a contract that the union’s bargaining team felt confident the membership would approve.

The new contract includes:

• Immediate 5 percent general salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2023
• Establishment of a salary step system for first time in decades, with step placement in October
• Minimum two-step increase in October for every member
• 84 percent of members reach target salary step by October
• All members reach target salary step by July 2025
• Step increases not contingent on management evaluations
• Total raises averaging over 16 percent
• Pension and medical benefits maintained
• Emergency pay saved
• Protections against contracting out saved
• October increases not contingent on state budget increase

“In the face of CSU’s unfair practices, lowball offers and stalling tactics, we harnessed the full power of workers by joining together as Teamsters and — with 60,000 of our fellow CSU union members in this fight — we won!” said Chris Rooney, Teamsters Bargaining Team member and Metalworker II at CSU Northridge.

Teamsters Local 2010 is an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing 17,000 workers in California higher education, including clerical, administrative, and skilled trades workers throughout the University of California and California State University systems.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via email