California State University plumbers, electricians, maintenance mechanics and painters are asking the state legislature to address a skilled trades employees staffing crisis in the university system.

A report issued by the State Employees Trade Council United Union and the CSU Chancellor’s Office identified a staffing shortage of skilled trades workers throughout the CSU system. The employees maintain the facilities of the 23 CSU campuses.

According to the SETC-CSU Joint Staffing Report, since 1987 the CSU system added four new campuses and more than doubled the size of buildings and facilities infrastructure that need to be maintained from approximately 20 million gross square feet to over 45 million gross square feet.

Sacramento State has approximately 1.7 million gross square feet to maintain. Infrastructure includes the buildings, facilities and equipment needed to keep campuses operational.

During the same time period, staffing levels of skilled trades employees rose only 16.9 percent from 825 skilled trades employees to 925. The report estimates that by 2011 approximately 25 percent of the workers will retire.

While the size of the CSU system has more than doubled, an adequate number of the workers have not been added in order to properly maintain the system, according to the report.

Paul Hallahan, State Employees Trades Council United chief labor consultant, said the staffing shortage makes it difficult for campuses to keep up with required preventive maintenance, which is regular maintenance on buildings, facilities and equipment to keep them in good working order.

“On a scale of one to five, with one being the best and five being the worst, we are at a four with regard to skilled trades staffing,” Hallahan said.

Gary Bonifacius, facility maintenance mechanic for CSU Chico, compared preventive maintenance to regular maintenance, such as oil changes and tune-ups on a car.

“When an engine is not maintained in good working order, what good is the car?” Bonifacius asked.

When preventive maintenance is not performed, it becomes deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance includes facilities and equipment, like roofs and generators, not replaced with new equipment when they are past their life cycle, said Elvyra San Juan, CSU assistant vice chancellor for Capital Planning, Design and Construction. A roof that has a 30-year life cycle and is not replaced after that time period would become deferred maintenance.

According to the joint staffing report, the CSU system has over $890 million in backlog of deferred maintenance projects. This is maintenance work that needs to be done on campuses, but has been put off to fund other needs.

Bill Candella, senior director of Collective Bargaining for the CSU Chancellor’s Office, said that the amount of deferred maintenance the university has is a good indicator of problems with staffing levels.

Candella, who worked on the joint staffing report with Hallahan, said the report was generated to raise awareness about the skilled trades staffing levels and ask campuses to review their own staffing situations. The report recommends that each CSU campus submit a formal report to the chancellor’s office regarding its staffing levels. To date, two campuses have done a full analysis of their skilled trades staffing, he said.

Sac State Associate Vice President for Facilities Services Ronald Richardson said Sac State has not done a formal analysis of its skilled trades staffing needs, but it does review the university’s 61 skilled trades workers’ needs annually.

He said Sac State’s workforce is keeping up with campus needs at this time.

Sac State has the highest dollars per square foot ratio of deferred maintenance of any campus in the CSU system, said Linda Hafar, Sac State director of Facilities and Utilities. While Sac State does have a large deferred maintenance backlog, Facilities Services keeps up with maintenance required by law to comply with the state’s Health and Safety, Building and Fire codes, she said.

Sac State Chief Steward for the State Employees Trades Council United and mechanic for Facilities Services Matthew Mason said the staffing shortage has made the campus’ skilled trades workers into “serious multi-taskers.”

“We are constantly busy – there is always something to do,” Mason said. “The problem is that we are putting out fires now instead of doing preventive maintenance.”

Both Candella and Hallahan said they see a state certified skilled trades apprentice program part of the solution to the skilled trades staffing problem.

The apprentice program, a major focus of the union’s current lobbying efforts, was developed 15 years ago by the union and the CSU Chancellor’s Office. The program trains employees on CSU campuses to become journeymen skilled trades workers.

The apprentice program has been under utilized on CSU campuses, Hallahan said. Since its inception, approximately 20 people have completed the program and not every campus in the system is participating, he said.

Sac State has had one employee, a plumber, complete the apprenticeship program and does not currently have any apprentices.

Not only does the apprentice program offer excellent training on the facilities and needs of individual campuses, it saves money, Hallahan said. Apprentices are hired at 65 percent of the beginning salary of a journeyman skilled trades worker. The program also gives unskilled maintenance workers, such as custodians and groundskeepers, the opportunity for career advancement.

As part of its lobbying efforts, the union is requesting the state legislature to add “budget control language” to the state budget bill that will require all CSU campuses to commit to and develop a plan for hiring skilled trades apprentices.

The apprentice program has the support of the chancellor’s office and will be adding staff to help campuses make use of the program, San Juan said. One reason campuses have been resistant to the program is that the training is a big commitment of time and money, she said.

The campus needs qualified people ready to enter the apprentice program, Richardson said. It requires a serious commitment on the part of both the employee and the university. Richardson said he is not sure there is an employee on campus he is ready to enter into that commitment with.

Todd Wilson can be reached at [email protected].