Labor unions are assembling across all California State University campuses for higher living wages and workload decreases, among other demands. 

California State University Employees Union held a rally at San Jose State on Monday to commemorate Workers’ Day or International Workers’ Day.

The rally also served as a way for SJSU’s labor union to prepare their members to be strike ready in the future. 

Members of the rally met at the Business Tower and marched together to Smith Carlos Lawn while chanting their demands from SJSU and the CSU as a whole. 

Sarah Schraeder, vice president and chief steward for the CSUEU, said the association represents about 935 staff members on SJSU’s campus. 

“We believe the CSU can’t run without the staff,” Schraeder said. “We’re the ones that do your schedules, we’re the ones that open the front doors of our department offices, we make sure the lights are on, the teamsters paint [and] maintenance or custodians clean the bathrooms. We represent all of the workers and if we shut it down, we will shut down the CSU.”

Many that attended the rally represented other labor unions, including the Academic Professionals of California, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Dominguez Hills chapter of the California Faculty Association. 

Khanh Weinberg, SJSU alumna who works as the communications officer at CSU Employees Union, said the rally was the first May Day rally in many years on SJSU’s campus.

She said it’s great that SJSU employees feel energized because there is power in numbers.

“Many of the labor organizations are negotiating right now with the CSU for contracts or contract reopeners,” Weinberg said. “We’re saying that as support workers who support students and help students thrive on campuses, that the CSU administration must not forget its support workers who are providing frontline and vital services to our students.” 

Janet Sundrud is an operations and systems senior analyst at SJSU and a representative steward at large for SJSU’s chapter in the CSU Employees Union . 

Stewards are volunteers who support the CSU Employees Union, according to its webpage.

Sundrud said she has worked on campus for almost 20 years, starting as a part-time research assistant, and acknowledged that everyone who works for the university is committed to their respective roles. 

“We want to deliver the best experience for our students, but we also need a living wage,” Sundrud said. “We need to survive in this expensive Silicon Valley and so we’re here to advocate for steps so that we all can be an institution where we’re paid fairly.”

The CSU salary system allowed its employees to receive increased salaries through 5% annual steps to progress from the bottom step to the top step, according to a CSUEU webpage.  

In 1996, CSU trustees removed the steps proposal from the union contract, so many CSU employees are still in the lower salary range despite having their position for years or decades, according to the same CSUEU webpage.

Sundrud said she joined the labor union because she empathizes with those who have worked with poor management.

“The Union can help me to step in and support employees when they find themselves in a bad work environment with an unsupportive manager,” Sundrud said.

As a representative steward, she said she advocates for her co-workers in her direct unit.

“I can help clarify the union contract and I can help intercede and navigate difficult work environments as they come up,” Sundrud said. 

Schraeder, who currently works as a research associate and program coordinator, said it’s unfair that newer people get hired into higher salary ranges, but CSU employees who have worked for decades are stuck with the same salary.

“We have a huge turnover problem in staff,” Shraeder said. “President [Teniente Matson] in her January address mentioned that [SJSU’s] retention of staff got worse by 70%. It went from we’re only retaining 11.2% to we’re not retaining 19% so that means almost 20% of the staff that you see working here and out, 20% of them will be gone by the next academic year.”

Schrader said the CSU Employees Union is also working on organizing student workers to negotiate for better raises and better salaries. 

“They’re unionizing cards and now we filed them with PERB, which is a state personnel board,” she said. “We have 20 days for them to decide, yes, you have enough union cards compared to the amount of student workers that exist in the system for them to make a vote to unionize.”

The Public Employment Relations Board is responsible for administering bargaining statutes for employees in California including colleges and universities, according to its website.

Shraeder said the CSU gave the Employees Union salary steps proposal with 23 steps so it would take 23 years for employees to move through their range, which they find unfair.

Schraeder said when the union is ready to file to strike, SJSU employees will walk off their jobs and have no pay until an agreement is made about the money they need. 

“It makes no sense,” Schraeder said. “It was a slap in the face proposal, so what we’re doing now is getting strike ready.”

Labor unions are assembling across all California State University campuses for higher living wages and workload decreases, among other demands. 

San Jose State has their own chapter in the California State University Employees Union (CSUEU) and organized a May Day rally on Monday to commemorate Workers’ Day or International Workers’ Day.

This rally also served as a way for SJSU’s labor union to prepare their members to be strike-ready in the future. Many that attended the rally represented other labor unions including the Academic Professionals of California, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the Dominguez Hills chapter of the California Faculty Association. 

Members of the rally met at the Business Tower and marched together to the Smith Carlos Lawn, where they ended the rally with pizza and refreshments for everyone that attended. 

Khan Weinberg is an SJSU alumna and works on the union’s staff by handling communications and media relations for the CSU.

She said Monday’s rally was the first May Day rally in many years on SJSU’s campus and it’s a great sign that SJSU employees are feeling energized because there is power in numbers.

“Many of the labor organizations are negotiating right now with the CSU for contracts or contract reopeners, and we’re saying that as support workers who support students and help students thrive on campuses, that the CSU administration must not forget its support workers who are providing frontline and vital services to our students,” Weinberg said. 

Janet Sundrud is an operations and systems senior analyst at SJSU and a rep steward at large for SJSU’s chapter in the CSUEU. Stewards are volunteers who support the CSUEU, according to a CSUEU webpage.

Sundrud said she has been working on campus for almost 20 years, starting as a part-time research assistant, and acknowledges that everyone who works for the University is committed to their roles. 

“We want to deliver the best experience for our students, but we also need a living wage,” Sundrud said, addressing the rally. “We need cost of living adjustments. Those of us who have dedicated our lives to this institution are not getting a fair pay. We need to survive in this expensive Silicon Valley and so we’re here to advocate for steps so that we all can be an institution where we’re paid fairly, where people want to work here, where we continue to work hard because we are fairly compensated for our work. We work hard for this institution and we just want to be recognized.”

Steps allowed CSU employees to receive increased salaries through 5% annual steps to progress from the bottom step to the top step, according to a CSUEU webpage. 

CSU Trustees removed steps entirely from the union contract so many CSU employees are still in the lower salary range despite having their position for years or decades, according to the same CSUEU webpage.

Sundrud said she joined the labor union because she has seen work environments with good managers and abusive managers on SJSU’s campus. 

“The Union can help me to step in and support employees when they find themselves in a bad work environment with an unsupportive manager,” Sundrud said.

As a union steward, she said she advocates for her co-workers in her direct unit which is pretty big.

“I can help clarify the union contract and I can help intercede and navigate difficult work environments as they come up,” Sundrud said. 

Sarah Schraeder, vice president and chief steward for the CSUEU, said it represents about 935 staff members on SJSU’s campus. She has been an SJSU employee since 2019 and currently works as a research associate and program coordinator. 

Schraeder said it’s unfair that newer people will get hired into higher salary ranges but CSU employees who have worked for decades are stuck in one salary.

“We have a huge turnover problem in staff,” Shraeder said. “President [Teniente Matson] in her January address mentioned that [SJSU’s] retention of staff got worse by 70%. It went from we’re only retaining 11.2% to we’re not retaining 19% so that means almost 20% of the staff that you see working here and out, 20% of them will be gone by the next academic year.”

Schrader said the CSUEU is also working on organizing student workers to negotiate for better raises and better salaries. 

“They’re unionizing cards and now we filed them with PERB, which is a state personnel board,” she said. “We have 20 days for them to decide, yes, you have enough union cards compared to the amount of student workers that exist in the system for them to make a vote to unionize.”

CSU gave the CSUEU a salary steps proposal with 23 steps so it would take 23 years for employees to move through their range.

“It makes no sense,” Schrader said. “It was a slap in the face proposal, so what we’re doing now is getting strike ready.”

Schraeder said strike ready means at any moment in time, when the union is ready to file to strike, SJSU employees will walk off their jobs and have no pay until an agreement is made about the money they need. 

“We believe the CSU can’t run without the staff,” Schraeder said. “We’re the ones that do your schedules, we’re the ones that open the front doors of our department offices, we make sure the lights are on, the teamsters paint [and] maintenance or custodians clean the bathrooms. We represent all of the workers and if we shut it down, we will shut down the CSU.”