Picketers expected at Fresno State as part of statewide Teamsters strike – The Collegian

Teamsters Local 2010, the union for skilled workers across California State University (CSU), will be striking from Feb. 17-20, because they say that the public university system has been unable to raise their annual salaries. 

There are 1,100 skilled trades workers across the CSU, including electricians and locksmiths who work to keep facilities operating on campus. About 43 of these skilled workers work at Fresno State. 

Skilled trade workers at Fresno State will be picketing in four main locations on campus: Near the parking lots on Shaw and Maple avenues, Barton and Keats avenues, Maple and Barstow avenues and Barstow and Campus Drive. Strikers will be supported by local groups such as the California State University Employees Union and the California Faculty Association. 

Union members and other skilled workers are not obligated to partake in the strike. 

In 2023, the skilled trade workers’ union held a one-day strike. This time, union members will be participating in a strike from Tuesday to Friday. 

Drew Scott, facilities control specialist at Fresno State and Teamsters Local 2010 member, hopes that this four-day strike will demonstrate to the CSU that this change is pressing. 

“[The strike is] showing them we are a little more serious,” Scott said.

The union hopes to get a salary increase for 2025-26. According to a collective bargaining agreement between the union and CSU, this raise would only occur if CSU received about $250 million in state funding. 

However, California has cut the CSU’s base budget by $143.8 million. 

The state legislature has provided the CSU with a no-interest loan of the $143.8 million cut that the CSU will eventually have to repay by July 2026. Due to this, the CSU is not able to raise the base salaries for the 2025-26 year; they have authorized a one-time payment, a singular bonus. 

CSU Chancellor Mildred García said CSU will use the $144 million fund from the no-interest loan to create these singular bonuses across the 22 universities. The singular bonuses will equal 3% of an employee’s annual base pay.

The union said that the CSU exploited a law called the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act HEERA, which allows them to reopen contracts, refuse raises and blame the state’s “insufficient funding” for the CSU’s inability to raise salaries. 

“The lawyers are just playing the game of how they can tweak things to get their way,” Scott said. “They are creating this verbiage and testing it on skill trade workers.”

Assembly member Liza Ortega introduced a bill called AB1818 a couple of days before the strike. The bill removes language stating that contracts requiring legislative funding aren’t effective until the state acts. The bill clarifies that, once agreements are negotiated, the CSU must follow through. 

Union members are in support of this bill. 

The CSU is on track to receive a base increase of 5%, $365.7 million by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and the union claims paying salary raises will cost about 1% of that increase. 

“They all got raises, but they’re not willing to give us ours,” Scott said.   

The CSU has $8 billion in reserves, and student tuition is increasing by 6% annually. Just recently, CSU presidents have received significant salary raises, including Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval.

Fresno State’s campus will remain open, and classes will still be in session. In a campuswide email, Jiménez-Sandoval said that people may see picket lines at the entrances of the campus, and students are permitted to cross the picket line to access the campus. 

The Collegian will continue to cover this strike as it proceeds.