State budget standoff, administration profile, Labor Day history, contract campaign training, and more!
Biweekly news digest from the California State University Employees Union
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BUDGET STANDOFF REACHES MILESTONE
LAWSUITS FLY OVER GOV’S MINIMUM WAGE PLAN
ORGANIZATION PROFILE: ADMINISTRATION
CSU SAN LUIS OBISPO LABOR DAY TRADITION
FORMER CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE EMPLOYEES ALLEGE NO-BID CONTRACTS
CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE PICNIC FEATURES PRIZES, MUSIC FROM CSUEU
CONTRACT CAMPAIGN TRAINING, AUGUST 16-17
CSEA SURVEY
ALLIANCE FOR THE CSU BASEBALL GAMES
STANISLAUS FACULTY & STAFF PICNIC, SEPTEMBER 6
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Budget Standoff Reaches Milestone as Assembly Fails to Pass Budget Bill
With the state budget now 52 days late, California lawmakers are approaching record territory for tardiness.
With no deal yet in place, 2008 now marks one of the top five latest budgets ever. According to the Sacramento Bee, California governors have signed only four budgets later than August 18, and only three have been later in being passed by the Legislature.
An Assembly constitutional amendment, ACA 19, designed to establish a hard spending cap, failed last week. It was the subject of an Alliance for the CSU action alert last Friday asking for opposition calls to Assemblymembers. The proposal would have endangered future CSU funding and made it impossible for the system to recover from past budget cuts.
“This cap would have had a devastating effect on the CSU and on future budgets,” says CSUEU President Pat Gantt. “The CSU and the CSUEU need a state budget that has new revenue sources and that enables some growth in the future. The cap would have freezed the state budget such that there would be no increased budget for the CSU in coming years, and it would have forced deep cuts in programs and positions. A big thank you to the hundreds of Alliance supporters who made calls and used CapWiz to send e-mails.”
On Sunday, the Assembly became the first house to hold a budget vote on the floor this year. Assemblymembers met for nearly six hours but were unable to settle on a budget compromise.
A vote was taken on a proposal authored by Democratic leadership that included additional budget cuts demanded by Republican leaders and tax increases, primarily on the highest earners and corporations. It failed to garner a single Republican vote and fell nine votes short of the 54 needed for passage. Reports indicate that negotiations continue behind the scenes.
To date, nothing has changed regarding funding for the CSU. The additional $98 million dollars restored by the Governor in the May Revise remained in the budget plan that went to an Assembly vote on Sunday.
At the same time, none of the more than $200 million the CSU needs to open the doors to all eligible students was included in the plan voted down by the Assembly on Sunday.
Lawsuits Fly over Gov’s Minimum Wage Plan
The governor’s order to temporarily cut state worker pay to the federal minimum wage level pending a new budget has lawsuits flying in Sacramento. Yesterday, court hearings about the order were postponed until Septermber, rendering the order null for the month of August, meaning that impacted workers’ salaries will be paid in full this month. Two weeks ago, SEIU Local 1000 sued the governor over a part of his plan that calls for thousands of job cuts, and last week the governor sued state Controller John Chiang to force him to implement the pay cut.
The governor is arguing that a past case, White v. Davis, forces Chiang to implement pay cuts until there is a budget. Chiang’s office says that that interpretation of the case is wrong and that, if the cut were implemented, CSU employees would have to be paid minimum wage, too.
The CSU Chancellor has stated bluntly that he does not intend to cut compensation. Rather, he will pay salary from alternative revenue sources other than the state general fund. That is entirely legal under the case law relied upon by Chiang.
Chiang spokesperson Jacob Roper has said that a debate over interpretation of case law is only part of the controller’s problems with the governor’s executive order. “Controller Chiang is saying the order is simply unfair, exposes the state to litigation down the road, and is unnecessary because there is enough money to meet payroll for two months.”
Organization Profile: Administration
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Dayna Ramos
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Sherri Strange
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Of the seven permanent employees currently working at CSUEU headquarters in Sacramento, two keep everything moving along smoothly—and they really kept things moving during the recent office relocation into the CSEA suite last month.
Program Specialist Dayna Ramos, who joined CSEA in 1997, manages the office and handles event planning and customer service, among other responsibilities. Administrative Technician Sherri Strange, who came to CSEA in 2001 after serving as office manager at Ben & Jerry’s, manages union leave and the steward program, as well as web support.
When headquarters switched offices last month from one side of the Capitol to the other, moving to a fifth-floor space within CSEA’s suite of three floors in downtown Sacramento, Ramos and Strange went into high gear.
“Dayna and Sherri proved to be a mighty and unstoppable duo without whom the move never could have taken place as smoothly as it did,” says CSUEU President Pat Gantt.
“They are a true asset to the organization,” adds Chief of Staff Phillip Coonley. “They keep the rest of us organized, a skill that made all the difference with the recent move.”
“Everybody packed their own offices,” explains Ramos, “but there was also the kitchen, supplies, cleaning the fridge out, and all the other things that others didn’t think about. That last night before the move, Sherri and I worked until midnight. Sherri would have worked there longer if I hadn’t pulled her out--I couldn’t quite see us staying there until 2 or 3 a.m.”
“It didn’t help that July turned out to be one of the busiest months for meetings and meet and confers,” says Strange. “The Board of Directors meeting took place in late June, plus there were steward trainings, and we were down one person with the departure of long-time support staffer Malia Plummer.”
Prior to joining CSEA, Ramos served as executive assistant at the Haggin Oaks Golf Course and at Sutter General Hospital, both in Sacramento. A native of Sacramento suburb Rancho Cordova who has taken a series of meeting planner classes at CSU Sacramento, she’s been married 22 years and has three sons aged 22, 17 and 11.
At Ben and Jerry’s in San Francisco, San Francisco Peninsula native Strange was not only office manager but also donations coordinator through most of the ‘90s. She served through most of the 1980’s as a freelance photostylist in Los Angeles, working with product photographers for Bon Appétit, Laura Ashley, Macy’s, and Crate & Barrel, among many other clients.
“After my experience at Ben & Jerry’s, which is a very progressive employer, I wanted to work with a socially responsible organization,” she says. “Frankly, I never thought I’d find that at a union, but I definitely have at CSUEU.
“We’re here to assist the people who look after California’s university students,” she adds. “So we naturally want to make sure that everything is in place for the kids. Our members do so much more at the CSU campuses than people realize.”
“What keeps me here? I have the greatest members,” says Ramos. “I believe in them, and I think of them as my customers. I’m here for the cause--it’s all about the members.”
CSU San Luis Obispo Labor Day Tradition
The CSU San Luis Obispo chapter is preparing for its annual Labor Day tradition: sending out labor union history to all members.
One or two work days before the Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 1, chapter President Joan Kennedy will send out a document that includes a list of rights and benefits that have come out of America’s union movement and a recounting of the founding of Labor Day.
“Labor Day has lost its meaning through the years,” says Kennedy. “What better way to remind members of the relevance of the holiday than by celebrating the victories of the labor movement. We all are part of labor history in the making today, and our chapter’s tradition helps point that out.”
Kennedy’s document is available as a PDF. For further details about the tradition, contact Kennedy, (805) 756-5781.
If your chapter is planning Labor Day activities, please capture the event with photos and captions for the next E-News.
Former Chancellor’s Office Employees Allege No-Bid Contracts
On Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle published an investigative piece detailing allegations by three former employees of the CSU Chancellor’s Office that the CSU improperly awarded expensive, no-bid contracts to a high-profile labor relations firm headed by C. Richard Barnes.
In the article by reporter Jim Doyle, the Chancellor acknowledged that the hiring of the firm was not handled properly, but defended the action because of the good results yielded by Barnes.
The whistleblowers in this case—former CSU labor lawyers Paul Verellen and Joel Block, who were released along with former chief negotiator Sam Strafaci in spring 2007 as part of a restructuring of the CSU Chancellor’s labor relations teams—claim that the CSU awarded a sweetheart deal to Barnes without seeking out competitive bids.
Click here to view the article
Chancellor’s Office Picnic Features Prizes, Music from CSUEU
The Chancellor’s Office 9th Annual Picnic, held on July 18th on the South Lawn of the Chancellor’s Office in Long Beach, featured a strong CSUEU flavor, thanks to the local chapter’s creative approach to the event.
Early this summer, chapter President Susan Kirby learned that prizes would be given out at the picnic, with attribution given to any organizations that donated gifts. So she craftily requested funds from the Board of Directors to buy prizes, ensuring that CSUEU would be recognized at the event, and the BOD provided a $500 grant at its June meeting in Redondo Beach.
“Tickets to Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and local restaurants were provided by the grant issued to our chapter,” explains President Susan Kirby. “Chancellor Reed stood at the microphone and not only announced each prize but also gave credit to CSUEU for each prize that we’d provided. It was a great way of highlighting our presence on campus. I later received a nice note from the Chancellor thanking us for our participation.”
Entertainment was provided by CSUEU member Steve Denison and his group, the Cheap Yellow Mustard Band, performing ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s music. The festive event included hamburgers from In-N-Out Burger and, for dessert, an array of ice creams. Human Resources second floor was the envy of the crowd with its win of the traditional Red, White and Blue Hat Contest.
“In my opinion,” says Kirby, “this was the best Chancellor’s Picnic ever.”
Northern California Contract Campaign Training, August 16-17
The Organizing Committee in conjunction with the bargaining team hosted the first of two contract campaign trainings last weekend. Taking place at CSU Maritime Academy in Vallejo, it was designed to provide chapter presidents, organizing chairs and other officers with general tips on recruitment and organizing, as well as specific counsel on the upcoming contract campaign.
Labor Relations Representatives Michael Hejazi and Brenda Brown developed the curriculum and led key modules on goals and “Organizing 101.” Also presenting were CSUEU President Pat Gantt, Chief of Staff Phillip Coonley, VP for Representation Dennis Dillon, Communications Officer John Watson, and VP for Organizing Ronnie L. Grant.
“Several themes emerged during the program,” says Hejazi. “Key among them were the ideas that organizing is all about relationships, that success as a union depends on success at the chapter level, and that effective communications are critical to clear, pointed organizing efforts.”
Special thanks to CSU Maritime Academy President Charles Constantine for making his campus available for the event.
Southern California training is set for September 6-7 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Redondo Beach and Marina. Enrollment is limited. For details, contact Dayna Ramos, (916) 319-4800 x. 101.
CSEA Survey
Chapter leaders and CSUEU staff should be on the lookout for a CSEA Customer Service Survey being distributed today. Designed by highly regarded survey company JD Franz Research, it’s intended to gauge your experience with CSEA services. The email invitation and your unique link to this online survey will come to you from CSEA_survey@jdfranz.com. Deadline for responses is September 4.
Long Beach Game Tonight, Chico State Next Week
With the end of summer drawing near, the Alliance for the CSU will go to bat twice more for CSU funding by hosting Alliance Night at Golden Baseball League games in Chico and Long Beach.
The first game will take place tonight, August 21, when the Long Beach Armada plays host to the Chico Outlaws at historic Blair Field in Long Beach. For more information or to order free tickets, go to: http://www.allianceforthecsu.org/activities.html
Next week, the Outlaws will return home to Nettleton Field on the Chico State campus to host a Labor Day weekend game and “Alliance Night,” Saturday, August 30, 7 pm. For more information, email cfa@csuchico.edu
Stanislaus Faculty & Staff Picnic, September 6
CSU Stanislaus chapter President Frank Borrelli invites all CSU Stanislaus members to the 7th Annual CSU Stanislaus Faculty & Staff Fall Family-Friendly Picnic, Saturday, September 6, 1-6 p.m., at the John Stuart Rogers Faculty Development Center.
Menu includes BBQ tri tip, chicken, hot dogs, veggie chili, salad, dessert, and beverages. Featured will be games for the kids and a bouncing castle.
Please RSVP by August 29 to Steve Filling, Connie Bratten, Nancy Burroughs, Wanda Bonnell or Shellie Machado.
As Frank puts it, “This promises to be great time for all! Hope to see you and your family.”
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, August 21
Alliance for the CSU Night at Long Beach Armada’s baseball game vs. Chico Outlaws
7 p.m., Blair Field, Long Beach
Saturday, August 30
Alliance Night at Chico Outlaws baseball game
Saturday, September 6, 1-6 p.m.
7th Annual CSU Stanislaus Faculty & Staff Fall Family-Friendly Picnic
John Stuart Rogers Faculty Development Center
Saturday-Sunday, September 6-7
Southern regional organizing training. Crowne Plaza Hotel Redondo Beach and Marina
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See back issues of CSUEU E-News, distributed every other Thursday.
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