Bargaining Talks Continue Despite State Budget Impasse
Bargaining for FY 2008/09 compensation continued on July 30, 2008, as a follow-up to the May 8 opening day of negotiations. Even though no formal proposals were exchanged between CSUEU and CSU, the parties did discuss various options in the event the CSU does receive an increase in their gross revenues. CSUEU reminded CSU negotiators of 2006 pledges by the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees to eliminate salary inequities for staff and faculty within the subsequent five years.
The CSU’s official response to the union’s May proposal: “there is no money.” May budget revisions to the state budget restored $97.6 million to the CSU budget that had been cut in January, but it nonetheless left the CSU with a deficit of approximately $215 million.
Looking one year forward, beyond the current state budget crisis, CSUEU called upon the CSU to propose sufficient funds in the FY 2009/2010 budget to meet the needs of the CSU. CSUEU’s goal is to reach an agreement on FY 2009/2010 funding before the CSU submits a budget proposal to the Governor and the Department of Finance, which is due by November 1. Our members deserve adequate compensation for the work that they do for the university.
Chancellor pledges that CSU employees will continue to receive regular paychecks
On July 31, 2008, in the midst of budget deliberations among top leaders of the California legislature, Governor Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-09-08, reducing state worker’s pay to the federal minimum wage until a state budget is in place. CSU Chancellor Charlie Reed has pledged that CSU employees will continue to receive their regular paychecks.
Meanwhile, SEIU Local 1000, which represents most state civil service workers and whose contracts expired June 30, 2008, is still in contract bargaining with the State of California. It is a violation of state bargaining law to unilaterally change the terms of employment while negotiations are underway.
State Controller John Chiang has pledged not to comply with the Governor’s executive order, and a court battle is inevitable.
Tentative Agreement reached on IRP information requests
As part of the July 30 negotiations, CSUEU presented a proposal to CSU regarding the types of information that campuses will provide to the union about In-Range Progressions and the timelines for providing that information. CSUEU explained that we need this information to verify whether or not the program is working and to judge how fairly and evenly it is being applied on each campus. CSU agreed to provide the information within 60 days.
Classification Proposals
Also in the July 30 talks, CSUEU proposed the creation of three new job classifications, along with revisions to several classifications.
Based on input from the CSUEU Classification Committee and Bargaining Unit Councils, the union proposed the creation of Environmental Health and Safety Officer, Medical Biller, and Parking Officer II classifications. CSUEU also proposed revisions to the classifications of Health Services Assistant and Drafting Technicians. The CSU promised to review our proposals and to initially respond to us on this request within several months; negotiations on these classifications will not begin, however, until various classification reviews that are already underway are completed. These include BU 2 classes, the accounting series, and reproduction/duplicating classifications.
In addition, CSUEU and CSU reached an agreement on adding cruise pay differential to lead food service workers who work for the California Maritime Academy.