On Wednesday, October 5, the CSUEU bargaining team concluded three days of intense negotiations with the CSU on the Cal Poly Pomona campus.
The CSUEU team once again told the university that the union isn’t interested the CSU’s parking pay cut proposal—that is, the CSU’s proposal to change the contract to give the campuses a blank check to raise parking fees as much as they want. The current contract links parking fee hikes to a general salary increase. CSU parking officer and bargaining team member John Orr said, “It is simple and fair: no pay increase, no parking fee hike!”
The team also passed a revised salary proposal (Article 20). The union is demanding a three percent across–the-board raise (general salary increase) each year of the contract. This figure is consistent with the three percent compensation pool increase requested for CSU by the Chancellor from the governor and legislature for Fiscal Year 2012.
The CSUEU team zeroed in on the continuing failure of the university to fix the compensation system in which even employees with excellent evaluations never move through the salary ranges. Bargaining Unit 7 Chair Michael Brandt emphasized the need for the CSU to take an interest in—and propose a complete overhaul of—the broken job classification and compensation system, stating, “The average salary for Unit 7 is just over $37,400 a year. That is not a living wage for employees and their families. It does not recognize the substantial contribution of the staff whose services provide a key interface between students, faculty and administration in many critical areas.”
Unit 5 representatives Sharon Cunningham and Mike Chavez pointedly questioned management representatives about CSU’s lack of follow-though on the findings of the joint Labor Management Committee on Long-Term Compensation, which met last year. Both the university and the union spent considerable time and money on the committee, which concluded there were structural inequities in the system. CSUEU Vice President for Representation Russell Kilday-Hicks said, “We have to show our members that there will be changes to a broken compensation system and hope for movement through the ranges.”
Although CSU has eliminated some objectionable issues from their proposal about layoffs (Article 24), that proposal still poses significant threats. Said Kilday-Hicks, “It’s disappointing that the university has not dropped this last-minute attack, just when we should be working toward a conclusion of negotiations.”
Some progress was made on individual sections and articles. CSUEU and CSU signed tentative agreements on Performance Evaluations (Article 10) and Hours of Work (Article 18). There was a lively discussion about Article 3, Contracting Out. Said Bargaining Unit 9 Chair Rich McGee, “Too often, management goes on auto-pilot and doesn’t examine the consequences of contracting out work when it is neither cost-effective nor consistent with the goals and mission of the university.”
Chapter 319 held a lively lunchtime meeting to show support for the bargaining team. The next negotiations are set for CSU Long Beach on October 18-19 and CSU Dominguez Hills on October 20. New dates were set for December 5, 6, and 7, location to be announced.
Actions are being planned in support of the Union’s demands. Stay informed!
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