CSU Workers Disrupt Bargaining at San Francisco State as Contract Deadline Looms

The workers marched upstairs at the J. Paul Leonard Library to chant outside the bargaining session, briefly disrupting the talks. They left behind whiteboards listing their demands for administrators to read on the way out, before marching around the library.

The standoff comes after years of financial whiplash across the CSU system, which has spent recent years closing budget deficits and bracing for steep cuts.

In 2024, it grappled with a $218 million operating deficit and warned of a projected $1 billion shortfall, and in 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom moved to cut hundreds of millions from its ongoing funding.

Campuses responded by freezing hiring, leaving vacancies unfilled, consolidating classes and laying off workers. This year, the union said, the state budget finally delivered a record $264.8 million in new ongoing funding to the CSU, and workers argue that they have yet to see it reflected in their paychecks.

The union represents 36,000 staff and student workers across the CSU’s 22 campuses, and juggles several contracts at once. The central one covers staff in bargaining units that include healthcare, facilities, custodial, technical and administrative workers — and it expires June 30.

At the same time, student assistants who unionized in 2024 are bargaining for their first-ever contract, and roughly 1,000 workers employed by private service contractors on campus are also in first-contract talks.

“I’m out here today because, like a lot of Americans, going to the grocery store feels like a luxury extravagance,” said Katie Murphy, chief steward for the union’s San Francisco State chapter and an academic office coordinator in the School of Social Work. “The pay structure we have currently does not support us having a living wage within this city and within the state of California.”

Murphy, a Daly City commuter, said some of her colleagues drive in from as far as Sacramento because they can’t afford to live near campus.

She framed Tuesday’s action as part of a deliberate strategy that the union called “getting strike ready” — escalating demonstrations meant to show management that the workers are serious, in hopes of preventing an actual walkout.

She said that the union has already forced CSU to change its bargaining plans on several occasions. “It’s great to know that we are having an effect and that the CSU knows our power.”

This strike would be the first for CSUEU, the CSU’s largest labor group. Murphy said that if no fair contract is reached, the union is prepared to walk out — and to stay out. “We are in it for the long haul,” she said.

“The State of California puts a premium on educating our next college graduates,” CSUEU President Catherine Hutchinson said in a statement. “Supporting the essential frontline staff who help students succeed must be a priority for CSU leadership.”

Murphy said the workers’ frustration stems from the CSU walking back a promise on a salary step structure — a system designed to reward years of service and make pay market-competitive — that the union had fought decades to win. She also pointed to raises for campus presidents and executives.

“They somehow have money to put into the pockets of people who are at the very top, but not put money in the pockets of people at the bottom for whom it would have the most impact,” she said.

For student assistants, the stakes are different, as they’re starting from scratch. Chloe Murray, a peer mentor at the library who earns minimum wage, said she had to take a second job just to afford living in San Francisco.

“We don’t have a contract right now, so it means that we don’t have any benefits,” Murray said, noting that while other units were given paid time off to attend the rally, she had to call out of work to be there. The students are pushing for $21 an hour, holiday pay and reduced parking fees.

“We help make this campus run, and we have to juggle our class work and working on the campus,” Murray said. “It makes it really difficult when we’re not getting paid very much, and they’re not giving us very many hours.”

Murray also pointed to rising tuition — a 6% increase each year under a plan adopted two years ago — despite department cuts and faculty layoffs. “We’re just getting a worse education for a higher cost,” she said.

In a statement, the CSU said it is bargaining in good faith “toward achieving an agreement that recognizes and supports the work of our staff in fulfilling CSU’s mission.” The university said that it respects the right to peaceful protest.

Tuesday’s rally at San Francisco State at San Francisco State was the second action of its kind in the past month, and it follows a wave of labor unrest across California’s public education sector.

In late 2023, SF State faculty staged a one-day strike, and earlier this year, Teamsters struck within the CSU. This past spring, both West Contra Costa Unified School District and San Francisco Unified School District reached tentative agreements with unions after strikes.

Murphy said those fights are a source of motivation.

“We’re always inspired and rallied by our union siblings, our union cousins across various sectors,” she said. “We are united, we’re coming together, and we’ve had enough.”