After months of negotiating, California State University and the CSU Employees Union have reached an agreement that will allow union members to apply for a .25 percent raise every 12 months.

The agreement, which was signed on Jan. 23 at the Board of Trustees meeting, indicates that an employee who applies to receive a quarter of a percent raise from an instate-wide progression fund must submit an application. The board members then have 90 days to evaluate and determine the eligibility for the pay increase.

The application will then be evaluated by a board that will determine an employee’s eligibility for a raise based on the level of their work and how essential that job is to the university.

The board members that will decide which employees get a pay raise will differ at all 23 CSU campuses.

If the board finds an employee ineligible for a pay raise, that employee can reapply in 12 months. There is no limit on the amount of times an employee can submit an application.

The CSUEU includes employees in information technology, academic instructional support, food services and custodial.

Dennis Dillon, the vice president of representation for the CSUEU, said that the duties of custodians have increased.

“If you look at the number of employees in the mid 1980s to now, the number hasn’t changed,” said Dillon. “But if you look at the number of staff, faculty, and students it’s increased, the workload has increased.”

“When we talk about custodians, there are new materials and machinery that the employees need to learn how to work. It’s not just like emptying a trash can in a classroom, it’s a specialization,” said Dillon.

Dillon said custodians have had to learn how to handle new machines used for waxing floors and the proper way to use chemicals in cleaning waterless urinals.

Last year, the CSUEU and the CSU were unable to reach an agreement that would provide employees with a pay raise.

This also caused the CSU to come under criticism when the Board of Trustees approved pay increases of about 12 percent for executives and campus presidents.

Dillon said that although the agreement reached between the university and the CSUEU is not what they had originally wanted, he is happy with the way the negotiations turned out.

“The university wanted to direct the raise to certain classifications, but now all of our employees have an equal opportunity to get this money,” said Dillon.

Hector Carrillo, a landscaper at CSUN, said he had hoped that the negotiations would turn out differently.

“Everything is going up everywhere else except our pay. And when our pay does go up, something else goes up,” said Carrillo.