California School Employees Association

The Labor Relations Representatives perform a range of professional services, working out of ten field offices across California to better serve local membership.During the three-day meeting, they established a framework for the union and set an agenda of progress that continued to elevate the status of classified employees for the next three-quarters of a century.In 1929, when California and the rest of the country plunged into the Great Depression, poor school districts began trimming budgets and classified jobs.After this growth, the union demanded that basic rights and benefits, which had been enjoyed by teachers for years, should finally be extended to classified employees from the state government.CSEA members also worked to defeat many harmful proposals including school vouchers, pension raids, and cuts in education funding.However, for all of its strength in representing classified employees at the state level, the union still lacked the teeth it needed at the local level—namely at the bargaining table.Today, CSEA employs nearly 300 full-time staff members to help its member-run chapters negotiate top-notch contracts with good pay and benefits for classified employees.From 30 September to 30 October 1981, almost 300 classified employees at Pittsburg Unified School District, in West Contra Costa County walked the picket lines.Led by Local President Rosemary DiMaggio and Chief Steward Rose Greenup, the members of California School Employees Association (CSEA) Chapter 44 walked out when negotiations for a new contract broke down.The previous year, their counterparts in Chapter #85, at neighboring Antioch School District had gone out for 9 days, and tensions had been brewing in Pittsburg for some time, so it was no surprise when the bus drivers, custodians, teacher's aides, food service workers, clerical staff and library assistants hit the bricks.Their election was pivotal in settling a strike that gained a contract with wage increases that exceeded the State cost-of-living-adjustment, redressed imbalances in the male-female hourly rate inequities and provided lay-off protections for summer workers.An initial survey by the California Department of Education found that nearly half of the state's school facilities contained friable (easily crumbled) asbestos in gyms, hallways, boiler rooms, and classrooms.Since 1982, the State Department of Education has been required to distribute information to all districts regarding the safe handling, storage, clean-up and disposal of any toxic substances found on school grounds.
Trade unionSan Jose, CaliforniaCaliforniaAFL–CIOlabor unionOaklandSan JoseSacramentoCalifornia Public Employees’ Retirement Systempension fundGreat DepressionWorld War IIschool vouchersCollective bargainingCalifornia Teachers AssociationAsbestosEnvironmental Protection AgencyCalifornia Department of EducationAFL-CIO George MeanyLane KirklandThomas R. DonahueJohn J. SweeneyRichard TrumkaLiz ShulerBuilding TradesMaritime TradesMetal TradesProfessional EmployeesTransportation TradesUnion LabelA. Philip Randolph InstituteAlliance for Retired AmericansAsian Pacific American Labor AllianceCoalition of Black Trade UnionistsCoalition of Labor Union WomenLabor Council for Latin American AdvancementPride at WorkInternational Labor Communications AssociationSolidarity CenterWorking for America InstituteAmerican Rights at WorkInternational Rescue CommitteeJewish Labor CommitteeLabor and Working-Class History AssociationWorking AmericaAFL–CIO Employees Federal Credit UnionNational Labor CollegeAffiliated unionsAFSCMELocalsIronworkersIUANPWNFLPA/FPANWSLPAOPCMIAPrinters & EngraversSAG-AFTRAWorkers UnitedUNITE HEREUURWAWSouth BayFloridaIndianaMassachusettsNew York CityOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandWashington StateWest VirginiaAmerican Federation of LaborCongress of Industrial OrganizationsDirectly affiliated local union