A four-day strike by skilled trade workers across the California State University system prompted CSU leadership to signal a commitment to honor contractual raises. The statement came during a hearing last month with the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Education Finance.
“We’ll provide all our world class faculty and staff with much deserved compensation increases,” said California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia.
Prior to Garcia’s testimony, California State University officials had maintained that Governor Newsom’s 2025-26 state budget did not meet the conditions outlined in union contracts needed to trigger the raises.
The state enacted a 3% reduction to California State University’s base funding and offered a zero-interest loan to temporarily offset the cut according to The California State University. They claimed that because the loan must be repaid, it did not qualify as new ongoing funding.
Teamsters Local 2010 disputed that interpretation and launched a four-day strike across 22 California State University campuses from Feb. 17 to Feb. 20.
Read More: Cal Poly skilled trade workers to strike following CSU salary disputes
The strike delayed campus maintenance and facilities work at several campuses as workers picketed. According to the union, elected officials, students, faculty and labor organizations joined rallies across the California State University system from the Bay Area to Southern California.
State and local elected officials also sent letters to Chancellor Garcia demanding the university honor its contractual commitments and provide workers the salary raises that had been expected since July 2025.
Garcia’s testimony before the subcommittee came on the first day of the strike.
“With the governor’s proposal as it is now, we can go back to the table to do the compact in complete form,” Garcia said.
The governor’s 2026-27 budget proposal, which includes a 5% base funding increase for the California State University system, could provide an opening to revisit compensation agreements in full if approved by the state legislature. Newsom’s new proposal, structured as ongoing rather than one-time funding, would resolve the dispute of deferred payments from the fourth year of Newsom’s five-year compact agreement.
The proposal also gives the California State University system an additional year to repay the $144 million loan, removing a financial pressure the university cited when refusing to implement the raises.
Assemblymember Mike Fong, who sits on the budget subcommittee, expressed support for workers across California’s higher education systems and emphasized the Legislature’s continued role in budget negotiations.
“As a Legislature, we’re going to continue to push for our team members and employees at all our systems of higher education,” Fong said during the hearing.
The budget still requires legislative approval and is subject to change before the new fiscal year begins July 1.