In an effort to gain economic security and have a contract for student workers, the California State University Employee’s Union delivered a petition to San José State University along with 17 other university administrations these past two days.
California State University Employee Union was formed to support 16,000 CSU support staff members of the 23 CSU campuses working with six different bargaining units that cover academics and operations, according to a California State University Employee Union web page.
Paul Lechtenberg, California State University Employee Union labor relations representative for Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, CSU Monterey Bay and SJSU was present in the delivery of the petition.
“Today, we will be delivering our petition (to President) Cynthia Teniente-Matson and we are calling CSU leadership to be better leaders,” Lechtenberg said. “Student workers deserve a fair contract and career staff deserve a fair salary step.”
For SJSU, student workers, career staff and California State University Employee Union representatives met up at the Arch of Dignity, Equality, and Justice where the 26-foot-long petition was unraveled displaying the names of those who signed.
“The President can use her leadership role and urge the chancellor and board of trustees to direct CSU negotiations to provide a fair first contract for student workers,” Lechtenberg said.
Together, they walked to Clark Hall to hand over the petition to Teniente-Matson who was not present on campus yesterday. Instead, student organizer Akhil Rao handed it to Shawn Whalen, Chief of Staff, and was told to deliver the petition to Teniente-Matson.
As of now with the current increase in the minimum wage, the average student assistant is making $17.00 to $24.00 per hour, according to SJSU’s salary schedule.
This petition calls for an increase in wages, a refusal of staff layoffs and a step-by-step process to secure career staff employment, according to the CSUEU Petition.
“Management is offering no wage increase and no parking fee discounts at all at the same time, management blames state funding and predicts there will be layoffs and program cuts next year,” Lechtenberg said.
Khanh Weinberg, a California State University Employee Union spokesperson alongside Lechtenberg, has reached out to management and organized students to stand up for their rights.
“We are challenging (CSU’s) to be bolder and have a more thoughtful and strategic view on building up the university, to attract more students to pay and open the door for students who need access to quality education,” Weinberg said.
Currently, the CSU manages an investment portfolio of $8.7 billion, according to the California State University Employee Union petition.
However, students are noticing the lack of support from their management and an overall decrease in hours.
Akhil Rao, a fourth year business management information system student and organizer, has seen this in his workforce.
“I work at (Spartan Village on the Paseo), so over the summer my hours were fine but there was another team who had their hours cut significantly and I know it (financially) impacted them greatly,” Rao said.
Rao says because students are only getting paid around the minimum wage and the increased price of living, it has added stress to those whose hours were affected, impacting their mental health.
As of now, to attend SJSU with only tuition and campus fees alone students, without financial aid are expected to pay $8,410 for the whole academic year, according to the SJSU student undergrad budget.
For students who live paycheck to paycheck a cut in hours with no wage increase could face a harder time paying simply for their attendance.
“You also get zero holiday pay so when it is like Thanksgiving or Veterans Day you lose that entire day of pay,” Rao said. “That makes a difference for college students who are paying everything on their own.”
Rao also says that the CSU has treated student workers and career staff with disrespect describing them as temporary workers.
With more bargaining meetings to come, those on the bargaining team are focusing on the implementation of a contract which would make it easier for student workers to be seen as more than just temporary.
“I hope Teniente-Matson takes our petition seriously and pressures the chancellor and the board of trustees but if she doesn't or they won't, we aren't afraid to get more serious and take more serious action. This is the first step but I feel good about what we did today,” Rao said.
