CSUEU E-News: February 17, 2011
Biweekly news digest from the California State University Employees Union
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MEMBER SURVEY ADDRESSES CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS
UCLA STUDY: CUTS TAKE A TOLL ON CSU STUDENTS
10,000 PROTEST WISCONSIN GOV’S ANTI-UNION MOVES
OUR PUBLIC WORKFORCE IS ALREADY A LEAN MACHINE
WHO’S IN THE CSUEU?
NEW CSUEU FACEBOOK PAGE DEBUTS
MEMBER TIP: UNIONS AREN’T A SPECTATOR SPORT
CALPERS SPOTLIGHTS RECENT IMPROVEMENTS
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Member Survey Addresses Contract Negotiations
CSUEU is conducting a comprehensive survey to allow its represented employees to guide CSUEU decisions over the next six months as we bargain a new contract, face state budget deficits, and organize for the planned special election in June. Honest, complete answers to all questions will help CSUEU ensure that our members are represented accurately and effectively.
The survey covers:
- Bargaining – Feedback on bargaining priorities
- Legislation – Feedback on the union’s 2010 November state election campaign
- Organizing – Feedback on chapter involvement
We would greatly appreciate receiving your response.Take the survey and encourage all the represented employees at your chapter to do the same! Hard copy versions in both English and Spanish are available from your chapter leaders.
With our current contract expiring on June 30, CSUEU and the California State University system are in the preliminary stages of bargaining for a new agreement. Read the first bargaining update, dated February 2.
These negotiations couldn’t be taking place at a more uncertain time economically, since the CSU faces $500 million in cuts in the upcoming fiscal year and up to double that amount if ballot measures extending temporary taxes fail in a proposed June election.
As of this writing, no one is certain of the exact impacts of that $500 million hit, let alone of any larger cuts, to employees across the CSU’s 23 campuses.
On January 10, Gov. Brown gave the first State of the State address of his current administration, focusing on the proposed June election to extend a number of temporary tax measures that would otherwise end this summer. Without passage of those tax extensions, he emphasized, California can’t even begin to get its financial house in order.
He was correct in his assertion that the only way to deal with the deficit is through a balanced approach that includes making cuts and maintaining existing revenues. If we don’t do this by passing tax extension initiatives in the special election this June, the cuts will be twice as large, which will jeopardize the statewide recovery.
If the special election does not occur or if the tax extension fails, then the proposed $500 million cut to CSU’s 2011-12 budget could easily double. If we put California’s fiscal house in order now, starting with the June election, we can prevent additional cuts while jobs come back and our economy recovers.
We look forward to working with Gov. Brown and his administration in addressing the budget crisis and in determining how cuts to the CSU will be made, concurrent with our contract negotiations through this summer.
UCLA Study: Cuts Are Taking a Toll on CSU Students
The ongoing economic crisis and continuing state budget cuts to higher education have had a devastating impact on students at California's public colleges and universities, resulting in “alarmingly high levels of stress,” according to a new report from the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA.
“Squeezed From All Sides: The CSU Crisis and California's Future,” which draws on interviews with more than 2,000 students at California State University, Northridge, paints a picture of students struggling to complete their education amid shrinking state resources, rising tuition costs, limited course offerings and growing out-of-school burdens that include supporting parents and other family members who have been hit hard by the recession.
Read the report.
Read a UCLA press release about the project (PDF).
Read Los Angeles Times coverage of the report.
More Than 10,000 Protest Wisconsin Gov’s Anti-Union Moves
More than 10,000 Wisconsin citizens marched on their state Capitol yesterday as crowds rallied in cities around the state, students walked out of high schools and public employees lined roadways holding aloft banners declaring their determination to battle an attempt by Governor Scott Walker to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights.
The protests, unprecedented in recent Wisconsin history, are in anticipation of a vote today, February 17, on whether to give the governor powers that are being described as nothing short of dictatorial. Gov. Walker has proposed a sweeping plan that would cut benefits for state employees, including those in the University of Wisconsin system, and eradicate the collective bargaining rights that academic employees won just two years ago.
Read further details in this February 15 article in The Nation and this February 11 New York Times article. This February 15 Chronicle of Higher Education article covers events in Wisconsin as well.
View the AFL-CIO’s powerful 30-second ad against the governor’s moves.
State’s Public Workforce Is Already a Lean Machine
“Professors and Prison Guards: An Overview of California’s State Workforce,” a California Budget Project study from last April, contains a number of statistics that remain relevant today as part of the state budget crisis discussion.
It suggests that any budget-balancing strategy based on cutting state employment will almost certainly have to zero in on prisons and public universities, since that’s where more than half of the jobs are.
UC is the state’s biggest employer, with 24 percent of total employees. Corrections is second, with 17.4 percent, and the CSU system is third, with 14 percent. Corrections’ staffing has grown significantly – at quadruple the rate of the rest of state government in the past 20 years.
And, when it comes to state jobs per capita, California is already running a lean operation, the study says. The Golden State ranks 48th among 50 states when it comes to the ratio of state employees per 10,000 residents.
“Recent attacks in the media make it sound as if the state worker structure is bloated and reaping huge personal wealth from a state that’s in fiscal crisis,” says CSUEU President Pat Gantt. “This forward-looking study serves as a useful reference piece to remind people that California has made prudent choices and investments in public servants.”
Read the study (PDF).
Read a California Watch report about the study.
Who’s in the CSUEU?
Bargaining Unit 2 consists of more than 500 employees who work in Student Health Centers on CSU campuses. It includes such classifications as registered nurse, nurse practitioner, licensed vocational nurse, medical assistant, pharmacist, health educator, radiologic technician, physical therapist, athletic trainer, speech pathologist, physician’s assistant and clinical lab scientist. Approximately four out of five BU2 members are women, and the average length of service is more than eight years. The BU’s represented employees hold 45 professional certificates, 147 BAs, 127 MAs, and 24 PhDs.
Bargaining Unit 5 consists of approximately 2,000 CSU employees. It includes such classifications as custodian, groundsworker, irrigation specialist, gardener, laborer, cook, food service worker and warehouse worker. Roughly two of three BU5 members are men, and the average length of service is more than eight years. Its represented employees include eleven with professional certificates, 41 with trade certificates, 139 with BAs, and eight with MA degrees.
Bargaining Unit 7 consists of approximately 6,000 CSU employees. It includes such classifications as administrative support coordinator, library assistant, payroll technician, stock clerk, parking officer, police dispatcher, buyer, collections representative, account clerk and graphic specialist. Approximately four out of five BU7 members are women, and the average length of service is 9.8 years. BU7 represented employees hold 49 professional certificates, 1782 BAs, 229 MA degrees, and seven PhDs.
Bargaining Unit 9 consists of approximately 7,000 CSU employees. It includes such classifications as administrative analyst/specialist, information technology consultant, equipment technician, accountant, instructional support technician, interpreter, real-time captioner, network analyst, research technician, laboratory assistant, performing arts technician, public affairs/communications specialist and livestock technician. Its membership is slightly over half female, and the average length of service is more than 11 years. The BU’s represented employees include 44 professional certificates, 3077 BAs, 990 MAs, and 93 PhDs.
The average age across all the bargaining units is mid- to late 40s. Members of all of CSUEU’s bargaining units have completed many types of higher education programs beyond those cited above, including professional degrees, trade certificates, AA degrees, and college work of all kinds. Beyond the four bargaining units above, CSUEU also represents Head Start staffers at San Francisco State University, ESL instructors at CSU Los Angeles, and food service workers at CSU Sacramento.
New CSUEU Facebook Page Debuts
Check out CSUEU’s latest foray into the social networking world: the new CSUEU Facebook page! Just search “CSU Employees Union” once you're logged in to Facebook--and please “like” us. Stay tuned for more additions to the page in weeks and months to come.
Member Tip: Unions Aren't a Spectator Sport
Unions are far more than a kind of employment insurance policy for working people. Plenty of union members and union officials have learned the hard way that when workers come to think of their union as a business that provides service rather than a group of people banding together to fight for common interests, the union quickly loses the clout and credibility needed to defend and advance the members’ interests. When an employer looks and sees only a small handful of paid union staff or elected union leaders, and no one standing behind them, pretty soon the employer starts thinking that “the union” isn’t really much to contend with. And the truth is, that’s right.
--Adapted from The Union Member’s Complete Guide by Michael Mauer
CalPERS Spotlights Recent Improvements
On Monday, CalPERS released a new fact sheet, “Responding to the Challenges,” highlighting all the ways that CalPERS has improved its systems over the last two years. Some of the document’s interesting statistics:
- A $229 billion portfolio as of February 9, 2011
- Ended June 30, 2010 Fiscal Year with a 13.3 percent investment return, bringing our 20-year return to 7.9 percent, and earned a 12.5 percent one-year calendar return through December 31, 2010
- Gained back nearly $69 billion in our investment portfolio (as of February 4, 2011) since our market low in March 2009
- Adopted a new risk-focused investment strategy, a landmark investment plan that places our investments into one of five major groups, or buckets, according to how they function in high- or low-growth markets and how they respond to the prevailing inflation environment
- Successfully advocated for financial market reforms that give a greater voice to investors and bring accountability to corporate boardrooms
Read the complete fact sheet (PDF).
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