Teamsters members participate in a one-day strike at San Francisco State Tuesday. Teamsters photo

On Tuesday, Teamsters Local 2010, representing skilled trades workers for the California State University system, held a one-day strike.

Fresno State was one of the 22 campuses participating after nearly 95% of the union’s members voted for a strike last month. 

Fresno members are picketing at the corner of Cedar and Barstow avenues.

The workers include plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, auto mechanics, locksmiths and more. Their labor contract expired June 30, and CSU management has declined to participate in further negotiations, according to the union.

The Teamsters have been negotiating for salary increases and a salary step structure. According to Edsoucre, CSU Teamsters lag University of California skilled trades workers in pay by an average of 23.6% when comparing campuses in the same county.

CSU said in a statement on Monday that it doesn’t believe the Teamsters’ strike is lawful.

The Teamsters said in a statement on their website that the action is legal and told members “you do not need to notify your supervisor or manager that you will not be reporting for work.”

CSU said it has offered a 15% compensation pool for a three-year period to Teamsters workers.

A factfinder preparing a report on the negotiations will include non-binding recommendations for how a settlement could be reached. After the report is issued, both sides will enter a 10-day silent period to review the report before it becomes public. 

“We will powerfully protest CSU’s unfair practices and mistreatment of workers and the stagnant wages and lack of salary steps that have affected CSU staff for almost 30 years. The CSU’s bad faith bargaining and insulting and substandard wage proposals show that they do not care that dedicated workers are underpaid, understaffed, and unsupported,” Teamsters said on its website.

It’s not the only labor situation CSU officials are dealing with. Last week, the California Faculty Association authorized a strike after negotiations soured with CSU management. The union represents 29,000 faculty members at CSU.

One day faculty strikes have been scheduled for Dec. 4-7 at four CSU campuses — Cal Poly Pomona, San Francisco State, CSU Los Angeles and Sacramento State.