Four staff employee bargaining units at California State University, Fresno voted Wednesday, July 15, to approve a tentative agreement that could lead to two-day-a-month furloughs for nonfaculty employees.
The vote at Fresno State was 231 in favor of ratification and 42 against, said Nancy Kobata, the Fresno Chapter 309 president.
Fresno State staffers are members of four statewide bargaining units of the California State University Employees Union, SEIU Local 2579, which represent administrative staff, librarians, plant operations workers, office workers, technicians and other employees.
Union members throughout the 23-campus CSU system are voting on the furlough agreement which was negotiated in response to a $584 million gap between state support and the cost of educating students at the nation’s biggest state university system during 2009-10.
If the agreement is approved by members statewide, campus-specific furlough plans would be adopted for Fresno State and each of the other 22 CSU campuses. The estimated 10 percent salary savings from furloughs would be added to increased revenue from higher student fees, enrollment limits, hiring and salary freezes, class-section decreases and operational, building and maintenance cutbacks to close the gap.
CSU’s Board of Trustees meets Tuesday, July 21, in Long Beach to consider several strategies to deal with the budget crisis. Other CSUEU chapters will complete voting this week with the statewide results presented to the Chancellors Office by noon July 20, Kobata said.
For more information, contact Kobata at 559.347.3921 or 287-3378 or visit: www.csueu309.org
