When education is under attack, Teamsters fight back
July 21, 2026
Over 120 members of Teamsters Local 2010 came together in Sacramento in May for our 2026 Teamsters Lobby Day! UC, CSU, and LAUSD Teamsters met with more than a dozen legislative offices to advocate for the legal protections and state funding California public education—and public education employees—need to thrive.
Working in teams, our members met with legislative staff throughout the day, urging our representatives to support full funding for the UC and CSU, stable funding for public school districts like LAUSD, and our signature bill AB 1818.
AB 1818, introduced by labor ally Asm. Liz Ortega, is our bill to close the legal loophole that CSU used in 2025 to unilaterally re-open bargaining on our Unit 6 Teamsters contract and deny Teamsters workers our contractual raises. It’s a commonsense bill and it’s winning bipartisan support—just the day before our Teamsters lobby day, AB 1818 passed the Assembly with 62 yes votes! With only 8 no votes and 10 abstentions, that’s a powerful show from both parties that it’s time for CSU to change its ways. AB 1818 now moves on to the Senate for its upcoming votes!
“Our successful Lobby Day shows that we have built Teamsters Local 2010 into a political powerhouse for the rights of our members and all workers in California,” said Jason Rabinowitz, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 2010. “Our bill AB 1818 passed the Assembly overwhelmingly, and we have been successful in pushing for a state budget that adequately funds education. Thanks to our 120-plus members who came out to show our strength and make our case to the legislators!”
During our lobby day, Teamsters shared powerful stories with our representatives about how important full funding of our systems is. At the UC and CSU, we need full funding to save jobs, fill open positions, tackle ballooning deferred maintenance costs, and protect the programs and care that students and patients rely on. At LAUSD, stable year-over-year funding is critical to help stabilize school districts, fund special education and community schools, and support the students and families who are most in need. Our members knew their facts and spoke from the heart—when Teamsters spoke, our legislators listened!
We urged the Legislature to work with the Governor to provide more stable, adequate, and predictable increased funding for public education to help public education thrive in California. The following details our talking points for advocacy.
AB 1818: Stop CSU’s Broken Promises to Workers
Current law allows the California State University system (CSU) to unilaterally cancel contracts and reopen bargaining agreements with workers — even after agreements have already been negotiated in good faith.
Last year, CSU exercised this authority by reopening bargaining on Teamsters Local 2010 members’ negotiated 2025 raises, while simultaneously increasing executive compensation by 5% to 17%.
AB 1818 restores fairness, accountability, and balance to the bargaining process.
Under AB 1818:
CSU could no longer arbitrarily reopen agreements on its own.
A neutral third-party expert — the California Department of Finance — would be required to provide written verification of a legitimate budget shortfall before bargaining could be reopened.
Workers and management would operate under a more transparent and balanced process that respects negotiated agreements.
Collective bargaining agreements must mean something. Workers deserve stability, predictability, and good-faith commitments from public institutions.
Fully fund higher education compact
We supported the Governor’s May Revise proposal to continue fully funding the UC and CSU Compact in its fifth year.
We thank the Legislature for pushing back against harmful cuts to higher education and for recognizing the importance of providing adequate funding so universities can honor their collective bargaining agreements and support students and workers alike. However, significant concerns remain.
UC Deferred Maintenance Crisis
The UC system now faces more than $8 billion in deferred maintenance needs across campuses.
Without meaningful investment:
Campus infrastructure continues to deteriorate
Safety concerns increase
Critical repairs are delayed
Working and learning conditions suffer
We also urged the Legislature to modernize the outdated contracting threshold at the University of California. The current $50,000 limit — established in the 1970s — no longer reflects today’s economic realities or inflationary costs.
