Faculty and staff unions at California State University, Bakersfield gathered Monday for a rally over concerns about layoffs and potential budget cuts affecting the campus.

The “Union Solidarity Rally,” held at the Student Union Patio, brought together employees and union members to discuss the impact of proposed budget cuts and layoffs on faculty and staff.

The event was organized by the California Faculty Association, California State University Employees Union, Academic Professionals of California, and Teamsters Local 2010.

Union leaders said they had recently received notice of layoffs affecting the CSUB faculty community and said the rally was an opportunity for employees to share information and discuss how to respond.

Margarita Berta-Ávila, president of the California Faculty Association, visited the Bakersfield campus for the first time to speak at the rally. She said the union represents about 29,000 faculty across the California State University system, including lecturers, librarians, and counselors.

She said she is there to support workers and bring attention to concerns about how funding decisions are being made across the CSU system. 

“We don’t buy this austerity discussion,” Berta-Ávila said. “This austerity discussion is basically trying to say, in its most simplest form, we don’t have any money. And we know that that is not true at all.”

She mentioned that enrollment is increasing at the Bakersfield campus and questioned why cuts are occurring.

“You are talking about close to a 20% increase in the matter of three academic years,” she said. “So why the cuts in departments, why the cuts in faculty, why the cuts in staff?”

Berta-Ávila also said CSU leadership is creating what she called a “manufactured deficit” and shifting resources away from campuses like Bakersfield.

She asked workers to take action and hold campus leadership accountable.

“You gotta go after the presidents,” she said. “You gotta hold them accountable. You gotta ask them the questions that nobody else wants to ask them.”

She said the issues at the Bakersfield campus are part of a larger systemwide concern.

“What happens here in Bakersfield impacts us,” she said. “What happens in Humboldt impacts San Diego, impacts us across all the campuses.”

Speakers at the rally also shared personal stories about how layoffs are affecting campus workers.

Delila Solis, a CSUB alumnus who grew up in Bakersfield, said he was among more than 100 lecturers who lost their jobs during the last academic year and said the cuts are affecting multiple departments.

“Our English departments are being cut. Our sociology department is being cut tremendously. Our ethnic studies department is being cut,” he said.

He said the layoffs are part of a broader issue and asked the campus community to stay united.

“If you don’t want to see more of these people disappearing from your campus, then we need you to step up,” he said. “We gotta stand united.”

Solis also pointed to financial struggles on campus, saying some students, faculty, and staff rely on the university’s food pantry.

“Our students use that food pantry at over 80%, but you know who else uses it? Our staff, our faculty are using it,” he said.

Patrick Choi, vice president of the Academic Professionals of California and a longtime employee at CSUB, said union efforts have already helped reduce proposed budget cuts.

“In January of 2025, there were threats of an 8% cut and more impending layoffs,” Choi said. “But with all the unions banding together, we helped influence it to a 3% cut.”

He said that the reduction was structured as a loan to the CSU system, which has since been extended.

“To me, that sounds like ongoing money here at Bakersfield,” he said.

Choi also had concerns about staffing levels, saying many student support roles are being filled by temporary employees.

“We are academic support. We do the financial aid, we do the admissions and records, advising all the students,” he said. “How can you build that support base if you’re only hiring temporary employees?”

He criticized university leadership over pay increases and said executives have received raises while staff are being offered limited compensation.

“They kept talking about the budget, that they cannot give the money,” Choi said. “But yet for the presidents and the executive members, they’re giving 10 to 15% permanent raises.”

“And yet for the staff, they only want to give us a one-time bonus of 3%,” he added.

Horacio Gonzalez, chapter president of the California State University Employees Union, said staff are already stretched thin and facing ongoing challenges.

“We were told, well, we gotta cut down to the bone,” Gonzalez said. “We were already at the bone, we were cutting through the bone.”

He said many staff members are doing more work without additional pay and remain underpaid compared to other industries.

“A study was done in 2022 that showed on average 20 to 30% staff at the CSU was underpaid,” he said.

Gonzalez also said the university failed to fully implement a promised step-based pay system that was meant to recognize years of service.

“People that were here for 20 years were supposed to get recognized for their years of service. That did not happen,” he said. “The CSU did not keep their promise to their staff.”

He asked workers to grow union membership and prepare for future contract negotiations.

“The CSU looks directly at our numbers,” Gonzalez said. “They know how many people are in the union.”

Gonzalez said the union’s contract expires this summer, and members may need to take stronger action if needed.

“We don’t want to strike,” he said. “But we understand better than anybody that our most powerful tool is our labor.”