On Thursday, dozens of academic student workers at San Francisco State University bundled up and marched across campus, demanding higher wages, paid sick leave and stronger protections for international employees.
The demonstration, organized by the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America chapter 4123, representing over 10,000 student workers at SFSU, began at 1 p.m. in Malcolm X Plaza. Organizers made impassioned speeches through megaphones while demonstrators held handmade signs. The energized protest was loud with chants about workers’ dissatisfaction with the California State University administration. The march drew attention from students but remained peaceful as marchers proceeded to the Administration Building, where organizers presented more than 2,600 petition signatures.
Sam Silva, a graduate teaching associate at SFSU and one of the event’s organizers, said student workers are becoming frustrated by stalled negotiations and administrative decisions they see as dismissive of their contributions. Silva led chants about a stalling administration during the march.
“We’re the ones in the classrooms and labs making the learning experience happen,” Silva said. “We deserve to be recognized and compensated fairly.”
In early October, UAW 4123 members had multiple bargaining sessions where proposals were made for all instructional student assistants, graduate assistants and teaching assistants to get an increased salary, paid leave and time off. But CSU management maintained their offer of 0% raises for the next three years.
Silva added that widening pay disparities have intensified workers’ concerns. During the rally, they condemned the growing salaries of the highest-paid administrators.
“The CSU keeps telling us there’s no money, but they always find money for administrators,” Silva said.
On Nov. 19, CSU trustees approved a vote to eliminate salary caps and increase how much the system’s campus presidents and other senior executives earn, with a potential pay bump of 15% in annual performance incentives. Currently, SFSU President Lynn Mahoney earns a base salary of $472,857, according to system data. Her proposed new base salary of $520,143 would be a 10% proposed increase by performance-based pay eligibility.
“The higher education compensation landscape is evolving, and we must keep pace to attract and retain a skilled, diverse and engaged workforce,” said CSU Chancellor Mildred García at a committee meeting on Nov. 19.
Paid sick leave, which many instructional student assistants still lack, was one of the rally’s most urgent demands. UAW 4123’s SFSU head steward Benjamin Arizmendi-Calvert, an instructional student assistant and tutor, said the absence of sick pay leaves student workers vulnerable.
“If we’re sick, we just don’t get paid. It’s disgusting,” Arizmendi-Calvert said. “They’re trying to kick sick leave down the road for two more years. We can’t wait two years for basic rights.”
Arizmendi-Calvert also pushed for written protections of international student workers.
“They keep pointing us to resources that may or may not exist in the future,” Arizmendi-Calvert said. “We want protections in writing.”
UAW vice president and a graduate research assistant from Sonoma State University, Alex Martin, said SFSU’s heavy reliance on student labor is not reflected in compensation or policy. He explained how student teachers are underpaid despite shouldering the majority of the work.
“Our departments depend on us,” Martin said. “We teach, we tutor, we grade. We do the same work as lecturers but get paid far less. It doesn’t feel like the CSU respects the value of what we do.”
The three UAW members urged Mahoney to take a stronger stance on behalf of student employees. They also expressed their demands should come in a timely manner.
“As the president of one of the largest CSU campuses, she has a responsibility to advocate for academic workers,” Martin said. “It’s a disgrace that hundreds of workers still don’t have paid sick leave five years after COVID.”
The signatures were received by a representative of Mahoney outside of the Administration Building. After successfully delivering the signatures, the group marched back to Malcolm X Plaza, where the rally eventually dispersed.
Golden Gate Xpress reached out to President Mahoney for a statement to which she responded through Bobby King, SFSU’s director of communications.
“I am very supportive of all efforts to see SFSU employees better compensated, as well as of labor activism,” Mahoney said in the statement. “I am hopeful that working together we will see a restoration of state funds and ongoing increased state support for competitive salaries and benefits for CSU employees.”
Union leaders said Thursday’s rally marked the beginning of a heightened phase of action. If a new contract is not reached by Friday, Dec. 12, organizers said further escalation is expected.
“This is just the start,” Arizmendi-Calvert said. “Everyone out here is passionate, and we’re going to keep fighting until we win.”
