CSU Management Persists in Their Refusal to Meet at the Table

CSU management is still unwilling to make any sort of compromise. They won’t come back to the table unless they control how we show up to the table.

They continually refuse to meet us in person to bargain over ground rules if anyone other than the Bargaining Team is present. Our team continues to insist on transparency and inclusion in our open bargaining process.

We are committed to racial and social justice, transparency, and inclusion. In their counterproposal, management removed this exact phrase (see their counterproposal here). It is clear that they do not share our values.

As a member-led union, we insist on our right to determine our processes of self-governance, and we do this knowing that we represent 29,000 members. We will not allow management to silence our members. We recognize that all members should have access to our bargaining sessions—and we also know that negotiations are intended to move us toward an agreement that helps us secure a strong contract.

After listening to members’ thoughtful suggestions during our emergency bargaining town hall last Thursday, we met the following day to discuss approaches to move our bargaining forward. We understand members want us to move quickly ahead to article deliberation. We do too, as our contract has the ability to enhance the lives of our members.

But their stonewalling is not about ground rules; it’s about power. It’s about denying our right to academic freedom, fair working conditions, manageable workload, fair compensation, shared governance in the use of A.I., among others. Their only goal has been to obstruct the process and grind us down. Management’s antipathy in bargaining is just the most recent example of malfeasance that harms faculty, students, and staff within the CSU.

We will continue to pursue our Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) charge against management’s failure to bargain in good faith. We are eager to settle this matter and bargain on your behalf.

We urge our members to write, call, and visittheir elected representatives and write to Chancellor García. Know that the management bargaining team ultimately serves an anti-student and anti-faculty chancellor who was installed by the CSU Board of Trustees to “put us in our place.” We will not let them unravel the people’s university.