Support staff at CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo stand to receive an 8% salary increase under a new tentative union contract. The California State University system and the Academic Professionals of California announced the deal Thursday, Oct. 8.
The agreement covers more than 3,700 APC-represented employees across all 22 CSU campuses, including academic advisors, career counselors and other student services professionals, EdSource first reported. APC is the second-largest professional staff bargaining unit in the CSU system.
Under the contract, which would run through June 2028, eligible workers would receive a 4% salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2026, and another 4% increase effective July 1, 2027. They would also get a one-time payment of $3,325 in December, according to the CSU's announcement.
APC president Mario Baeza called the December payment "an early Christmas bonus as a thank you for you being patient with us" in a video statement Oct. 8.
The deal is tentative. APC members have until Nov. 2 to vote. If ratified, it goes to the CSU Board of Trustees at its November meeting.
It is the first agreement reached with any CSU labor union in the current bargaining cycle. The Sacramento Bee reported that APC's last salary increase was a 5% raise in 2024. The union had been bargaining only over salaries for the past year.
Baeza told the Bee he did not consider the agreement "a really tremendous win" but said it would put more money in members' pockets before the union returns to full contract negotiations in 2028.
CSU Chancellor Mildred García said in a statement that the deal shows what can be achieved when the system and its unions work together on compensation while keeping budgets sustainable.
The agreement comes as CSU continues negotiations with other unions. The California Faculty Association, which represents about 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches, declared impasse in July after CSU proposed a 3% salary increase. Those talks are now at the fact-finding stage.
Gov. Gavin Newsom approved more than $500 million in new ongoing state support for CSU in the 2026-27 fiscal year. The system has directed $377 million of its $700 million-plus in new operating funds toward employee salaries and benefits, the Bee reported.
CSUCI itself saw enrollment growth for the first time in nine years in fall 2025, adding 1,480 new students, an 11.7% jump over the prior year, according to the campus's fiscal action plan. The number of APC-represented employees at the Camarillo campus was not available.
