UAW 4123 2023 Initial Bargaining Demands
Preamble
The CSU serves as a gateway to higher education for working class and historically marginalized communities in California. These groups have disproportionately felt the negative and continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its lingering economic effects. [1, 2] Two years from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, student worker purchasing power has declined drastically, student debt has skyrocketed, and campus fees and tuition continue to rise. And yet, the CSU has repeatedly prioritized executive pay increases and benefits, with some campus presidents receiving as much as a 28% pay increase in 2022, [3] in addition to combined housing and vehicle stipends of around $72,000 per year. [3] The patterns are clear; it is crucial that the CSU shift its priorities from the top of the organization hierarchy to the workers that allow the CSU to function.
Student Worker Take Home Pay
Fair Compensation. We demand that the CSU recognize the vital role of Academic Student Workers by increasing Academic Student Worker pay in order to eliminate rent burden, food insecurity, and the need to take on oppressive debt.
Tuition & Fees. Paying tuition costs and fees while working for the CSU siphons worker pay back into the pockets of the university. No worker should pay to work at CSU. All Academic Student Workers should be provided full tuition and fee waivers in order to receive the full measure of our salary.
Appointments. Disable short-term job precarity: Provide Academic Student Workers with appointments that are at least one academic school year long, and that ensure a weekly minimum income.
Housing. Ensure access to affordable, quality housing near work and housing subsidies appropriate to the local cost of living.
Benefits to Balance Student Workers’ Lives
Sick Leave. We demand that the CSU learn from the lessons of the ongoing pandemic and provide all Academic Student Workers with paid sick leave in order to support a safe, healthy, and equitable workplace.
Priority Registration. Provide priority registration to facilitate the ability of Academic Student Workers to balance work and class schedules and graduate in a timely manner.
Healthcare and Caregiver Support. Improve access to healthcare for all Academic Student Workers, including campus health centers. Support the diverse Academic Student Worker population through enhanced paid (family) leave, vacation, and child care assistance.
Transit & Parking. We demand that the CSU reduce the burden of commuting costs by guaranteeing Academic Student Workers’ access to staff and employee parking, while ensuring sustainability and environmental justice by providing Academic Student Workers with free public transit passes.
Supporting Academic Student Workers
Protections From Harassment & Bullying. Expand Academic Student Workers rights to have a safe work environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying, excessive workloads, and academic retaliation and provide access to paid peer-led training for Academic Student Workers.
International Student Workers. Demonstrate the contributions International Student Workers make to the University by eliminating Nonresident Tuition for all International Academic Student Workers. Improve University healthcare and housing options offered to International Student Workers. Improve resources and support for International Student Workers to help navigate living and working in a new country.
Protect Jobs. We demand that the CSU recognize the value of employing students from within the campus community to carry out the CSU’s mission, and ensure no third-party companies (such as outside tutoring services) are used to provide work otherwise provided by Academic Student Workers.
Workers Rights. Strengthen Academic Student Workers’ ability to enforce our rights, which includes ensuring all Academic Student Workers have access to a paid union orientation every term that they are employed by the CSU, and that hiring departments are trained in Academic Student Workers’ rights and protections.