Teamsters union announces success after four-day strike

by Julia Rants and Tim Nakautoga 

The Teamsters Local 2010 skilled workers union, representing about 35 Cal Poly Humboldt employees, announced its success on March 3, after the California State University system-wide strike. 

The union went on strike from Feb. 17 to Feb. 20 for scheduled pay increases that were negotiated in their contract following their previous strike in 2023.

On its website, Teamsters Local 2010 stated that Chancellor Mildred Garcia committed to state legislature that as long as the current budget stands, the CSU will implement the promised raises. The union’s statement reads: 

“Feeling the pressure from our historic ULP strike, Chancellor Mildred Garcia has publicly committed to the State Legislature that so long as the current state budget holds, CSU will implement its long-delayed promised raises for Unit 6 Skilled Trades workers!”

Teamsters Local 2010 represents around 1,100 CSU skilled trade workers, including carpenters, plumbers, locksmiths, mechanics and other building maintenance workers across 22 campuses.

The CSU system had initially replaced the last of these step raises with a one-time bonus, citing a clause that allows them to renegotiate the contract if the budget wasn’t fully funded. The Teamsters Local 2010 voted to strike, saying that the budget was fully funded.

The university said these negotiations happen at the CSU level.

“The University did not experience any disruptions to student services,” said the university after the strike. “The University remained open, and classes continued as scheduled during the strike activity.” 

Following the strike

Local union steward and locksmith, Phil Bradley said the local chapter was contacted by the CSU Chancellor’s Office after the first day of the strike.

“There’s not too many of us on this campus, and even amongst the whole CSU employee population, we’re a small percentage,” Bradley said.

Despite smaller numbers, Bradley said the support from students and the community was significant. Throughout the strike, supporters brought food, joined chants and distributed information.

“What blew us away is the amount of support we got from the community,” Bradley said. 

Teamster Local 2010’s current contract expires at the end of June, and they will begin bargaining for their next contract in the upcoming month.

Tom Snyder, a CPH building services engineer who has worked on campus for years, expressed why he chose to strike.

“We’re out here because CSU promised us the raises this time, they got fully funded and they’re saying ‘no’ and they walked away from the bargaining table,” Snyder said during the strike. “So we’re out here letting them know what we think of it.”

Teamsters also mentioned on their website that they will continue to advocate for their members. 

“Garcia’s public comments show that our successful strike, and pressure from dozens of legislators, exposed CSU’s greed and forced CSU to answer for its mistreatment of workers,” said the Teamsters’ statement, “Our Union won this commitment from the Chancellor with our action, but we know from experience that we need to continue to fight to hold the CSU to its promises.”

Bradley reinforced the importance of worker solidarity across the campus and community. 

“It’s solidarity. I think we all see that,” Bradley said. “We’re all fighting the same battle, and we’re all in this together.”