Cal State University skilled trades workers are set to strike from Feb. 17 to Feb. 20 due to promised salary increases that were withheld in July 2025. At Cal Poly, Teamsters Local 2010 will protest from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. near the entrance to campus at Slack Street.
Approximately 1,100 Cal State skilled trades workers including electricians, plumbers, carpenters and mechanics did not receive the 5% salary increase that was expected last summer according to the Teamsters Local 2010 union that has been active within the Cal State system since 2010.
“I’m striking so that we can get what the CSU agreed to, which is our steps,” said Paul Fahy, a building services engineer at Cal Poly. “The CSU has been doing this since I started 30 years ago. I found a letter from 1999 saying ‘this is your one time bonus’ instead of a raise.”
In a campus-wide email to students, Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Terrance Harris wrote that Cal Poly will remain open and that “classes, instruction, and student services will continue.” Facilities such as the University Union, Kennedy Library and student service centers are expected to remain operational. Students living in residence halls will continue receiving housing and dining services.
Harris noted that students may see picket lines at some campus entrances but are permitted to cross them or use alternative entrances.
While core campus functions are expected to continue, officials advised that some facilities services could experience delays if licensed mechanics and technicians are unavailable. Systems such as elevators, lighting, electrical infrastructure, heating and cooling, plumbing and restroom maintenance may be affected.
Teamsters Local 2010 says several Cal State unions including faculty, employees, academic professionals, autoworkers and police unions have pledged solidarity. The strike has also been sanctioned by the California Labor Federation and Teamsters Joint Councils 7 and 42, which represent Northern and Southern California.
The dispute stems from a 2022 funding compact between California lawmakers and the California State University system. The agreement outlined 5% annual base funding increases for five years across the system’s 22 campuses.
During 2023-24 labor negotiations, Cal State and its unions agreed to salary raises contingent upon the state providing at least $227 million in new, unallocated, ongoing General Fund support.
That contingency language, Cal State spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said, meant salary increases were conditional on Cal State receiving permanent new money from California.
In the 2025-26 state budget, lawmakers did not provide the 5% annual base funding increase but rather enacted a 3% reduction to Cal State’s base funding, approximately $144 million. The state offered a zero-interest loan equal to the reduction to temporarily offset the cut which must be repaid by July 1, 2026.
Cal State maintains that because the funding is a loan rather than new, ongoing support, it does not meet the contract requirements needed to trigger the raises. The unions dispute that interpretation. Teamsters Local 2010 argues the funding should qualify and that CSU’s refusal to implement the July 1, 2025 raises is a breach of contract.
In lieu of implementing the base-building raise, Cal State proposed a one-time, 3% bonus for employees, according to Teamsters Local 2010. Union leaders argue such a payment would provide significantly less long-term financial benefit than a permanent salary increase.
CSU and Teamsters Local 2010 attempted to resolve the contract dispute during a fact-finding hearing held Feb. 11. Representatives from both sides met with a state-appointed fact-finder as part of the impasse process, a legal step that occurs when both sides say negotiations have stalled and they cannot reach an agreement. The hearing followed a 94% vote by Teamsters Local 2010 members at CSU authorizing a strike.
The strike is classified as an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act. Workers who participate are legally protected and have the right to return to work following the strike, but they will not be paid for time spent on strike.