For four days last week, Teamsters Local 2010, a union that represents 1,100 tradeworkers across the 22 California State University System, led a historic Unfair Labor Practice strike at each CSU campus, including at Cal State LA. The strike stemmed from a disagreement over contract raises that were set to be paid out in July 2025, but the CSU did not follow through with those raises because of a state funding shortfall for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
However, the Teamsters pointed to the $144 million zero-interest loan California gave the CSU, which filled the missing funding and essentially made the CSU whole and provided them with all their requested funding for this current fiscal year. Instead of paying raises as agreed to, the CSU is using the $144 million loan to pay all employees a 3% taxable one-time bonus.
Over the course of this photo essay, it shows the differing moods each day and the experience on the picket lines, through both rain and shine. It also describes the challenges of picketing on a campus of over 20,000 students, mainly traffic at campus entrances, while focusing on the continued needs for on-campus deliveries, goods and maintenance work.
To read the full series of dispatches, follow the link to this story here.
