The Abridged version:
- California’s Public Employment Relations Board won’t grant the state’s request to block workers’ planned Wednesday strike, provided SEIU Local 1000 confirms details Friday about which essential workers will be exempted.
- The Newsom administration should provide more information about replacement workers who would step in during the strike, the board held.
California’s public employment board won’t grant the Newsom administration’s request to bar state workers from striking next week, provided their union confirms which essential health and safety workers will be excused from the stoppage, according to a letter the board’s lawyers sent Friday.
The top attorney for the California Public Employment Relations Board, the state’s labor referee, explained the board’s decision to partly grant and partly deny the administration’s request to block the strike in the two-page letter, sent to attorneys for the administration and for Service Employees International Union Local 1000.
The local, which represents nearly 100,000 workers across multiple California agencies, plans to hold a one-day unfair practice strike on Wednesday.
Last week, CalHR, the state’s human resources department which bargains with state worker unions on the administration’s behalf, filed an unfair practice charge asking the labor board to halt the strike. Local 1000 filed its own charge in response.
Joe Eckhart, interim general council, said the board found that the administration is correct that workers it had identified in its unfair practice charge, including nurses, counselors and many others, are essential to Californian’s health and safety.
But Local 1000 has already identified which essential employees would be exempted from the strike, Eckhart said.
Therefore, if Local 1000 agrees in writing by 2 p.m. Friday to excuse those employees from the labor action, the labor board will not halt the strike, he said.
The labor board also found that “the State has been unable to provide accurate information regarding the number of available replacement workers,” Eckhart said in the letter.
The board asked the Newsom administration to take several steps to address this, including to “continue to seek as many replacement workers as possible,” and use them as much as possible to minimize the number of Local 1000 employees required to work during the strike, the letter shows.
CalHR can’t comment on the board’s decision, “but remains committed through this process to ensure the continuity of state operations and critical services,” Deputy Director of Communications Angela Musallam said in an email Friday.
“The department continues working with SEIU Local 1000 toward a fair and responsible agreement for State employees.”
Regarding whether Local 1000 plans to confirm to the labor board which employees will be excused from striking, Chief Negotiator Bobby Dalton Roy said, “I’d have to leave that to our legal department.”
They added, “we do care about the safety of folks, the health and public safety, and so we are committed to honoring that and making sure that no one is … at risk.”
Correction: Angela Musallam’s title was corrected to Deputy Director of Communications at CalHR. This article was updated at 3:03 p.m.
