Cal State LA Employees Union Chapter President Kenneth Castillo was recently served with a summons in a lawsuit stemming from his involvement in a vote of no confidence against the union’s statewide leadership over the summer. Since at least July 1, two dozen other current and former CSUEU chapter presidents across the California State University system have also been named as individual defendants of the lawsuit and served with legal summons. 

The CSUEU represents more than 35,000 workers across the CSU system’s 22 campuses.  (The author of this story is a current student worker and an unrepresented CSUEU member.) 

This all comes as the CSUEU and several Cal State partner unions are in the midst of “fighting for” new contracts, against a school system these labor groups have said are prioritizing presidential and executive pay over proper treatment of their workers. Many CSU employees across departments, including Castillo are having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. Castillo spends several hours in the evening after his day at Cal State LA driving for Lyft, “just to pay utilities.” 

“If the CSU expects us to come to work and give 100% they’re not going to get that from a tired workforce that has to work after work,” Castillo said. 

Castillo and several union members told the University Times during the first several weeks of the fall 2026 semester that process servers had repeatedly tried  to serve him at his home and workplace at Cal State LA. The efforts continued until documents left with a student assistant in Castillo’s department, along with a “grainy photo for reference,” according to a social media post from the Instagram account csueutruth. 

“Imagine spending your life in the labor movement, advocating for workers from across the state, only to have the leadership of your own union turn its resources against you after you challenged them,” the post read in part.

The claims in the lawsuit are connected to a vote of no confidence held during a union-wide board meeting in early June that called  for the removal of CSUEU statewide president Catherine Hutchinson and statewide Vice President for Finance Terrance Wilson from their positions.The letter of no confidence cites concerns about financial transparency, fairness, democratic governance and the direction of the union. 

“A union is strongest when members trust that their voices matter, their elected leaders are accountable, and the rules apply equally to everyone,” the June letter read. “The Letter of No Confidence reflects the belief of many elected leaders across the state that those principles have been compromised.” 

The letter came shortly before the union’s membership rejected a proposed change to the bylaws with 68% of members voting against it. Hutchison said in a July article from the Fresno Bee that the proposed bylaws would help the CSUEU comply with federal law. 

“I understand that they didn’t want the bylaws to go out, and it ended up not passing,” Hutchinson said in the story from The Bee. “But to try to remove Terry [Wilson] and I in the middle of a contract fight is just not the best time for the membership.”

The Bee reported that the lawsuit was initially filed in Orange County Superior Court in July and sought to “invalidate” all removal proceedings against Hutchinson and Wilson and reinstate them to their leadership positions. 

In addition to seeking reinstatement, the lawsuit also seeks a permanent injunction “prohibiting the defendants referred to in the lawsuit as ‘a rogue group of current and former directors,’ from acting on or enforcing any vote taken during that unauthorized meeting,”’ The Bee said in its report.

A first court date in the lawsuit is set for Dec. 18, according to The Bee. 

In a statement emailed to the UT, Hutchinson said CSUEU is “focused on winning union contracts.” She did not respond to further questions about the lawsuit, bylaws or other concerns raised by Castillo and others. 

“We are fighting to raise standards for workers who make the learning environment for students possible,” she said. “We are the largest union at CSU, and that is our focus. We welcome support from the entire CSU community in meeting our goals.” 

For many, the issue goes beyond a single board meeting and vote held over the summer. Castillo and others say the dispute centers on what they describe as a consolidation of power within the union, an unsuccessful effort by statewide leadership to change the bylaws and a dispute over stipends that Castillo and other union members have called “outrageous” and “unfair.” 

Amid on-going labor contract negotiations between the CSUEU and the CSU system, the Cal State LA chapter CSUEU has been without a statewide labor representative since February 2026.  Castillo said the decision was part of what he described as a pattern of retaliation for the chapter’s boycott of statewide leadership and for “organizing for a strike” at Cal State LA.  

Without a labor representative, Castillo and other volunteers at the Cal State LA chapter and they cannot delegate work to a labor representative and are now “drowning in work.” Castillo added that under normal circumstances a labor representative would be paid by members union dues to lessen the workload, especially during negotiations for a new contract. 

CSUEU chapters at 10 other universities across the school system were put under “trusteeship” for alleged strike organizing and campus leaders’ voting in favor of no confidence to oust statewide leadership, Castillo said. Trusteeship strips local union power from individual campus chapters for “poor governance” and “declining membership numbers.” But the allegations used to justify the trusteeship were false, according to Castillo. 

“The lawsuit came because she [Hutchison] was basically throwing a fit because the board of directors found her unfit,” Castillo said. “The board of directors have spoken and we don’t want her in. She does not represent our union. She’s been working in bad faith. And that’s where the lawsuit comes from.”