eNews | Aug. 14, 2026
CSU Management Flunked Our Test
After months of bargaining, we decided to test the CSU team: Is the Chancellor's Office serious about providing workers a fair and just contract? By offering us a lousy 1% wage increase this week, Management failed miserably. See all the proposals we've exchanged so far this year.
What will pressure CSU management is seeing and hearing from us - the workers. Our power lies in coming together, fighting together, and if everyone on every campus does that, WE WILL WIN!
Our #StrikeReadySummer escalation calls for asking the hard question: Are you ready to strike? Take the Strike Readiness Survey - responses will help us prepare the resources necessary for a successful strike. Know that our campus actions are reaching our communities!
Check out the media coverage of our Aug. 11 rally at Cal State East Bay: KQED online and audio. And kudos to our Stanislaus chapter for holding a practice picket to support bargaining, which was covered by The Modesto Bee.
The next bargaining session is Aug. 20, at the Office of the Chancellor. Members are encouraged to join the Zoom bargaining update on Aug. 21 at Noon. RSVP here.
CSU Compensation Study Shows Workers Remain Underpaid
CSU leadership claims its latest salary study shows staff and faculty pay is competitive with comparable employers and peer institutions. Our assessment is vastly different.
The study by Segal does not say CSUEU wages are at market; it says CSUEU base wages are 4% below market. To fix that, CSU Management must address three issues in the ongoing 2026 contract negotiations: meaningful salary adjustments; targeted salary structure adjustments; and guaranteed, meaningful step progression.
What the study did show was that the University compensates its 30 highest paid administrators with wildly attractive salaries and benefits packages, leaving 61,000 of its workforce to scrap over what's left. How is the CSU in a budgetary crisis if we are offering year-over-year incentives of up to 15% increases to its highest paid employees? The answer: There is no budgetary crisis. The CSU crisis is one of allocation - the most money is going to the smallest group of employees who are already well compensated.
Read our full response to the study by CSUEU Vice President for Representation Jessica Dalton.
Costs Go Up, Wages Go Down
A quick look at the real world workers are living in is shown in two charts below. Professor of Economics and Public Policy Justin Wolfers, from the University of Michigan, posted a simple diagram showing how real wages - when adjusted for inflation - are falling. Separately, AAA reports gas prices continue to hit commuters hard. CSU management should look at this and then be real with their economic proposals.
We Support Immigrant Workers!
CSUEU members Edith Martinez, from Dominguez Hills; Veronica Lee, from LA; and Hector Maciel, from Cal Poly Pomona, joined with fellow SEIU members from all over California this week for a day of learning, connecting, and action. Showing solidarity with immigrant workers, participants also engaged with legislators in support of immigrant rights legislation.
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