- Service Employees International Union Local 1000 announced that members will vote on whether to authorize a strike over what it calls the state’s unfair bargaining practices.
- The strike authorization vote comes after the union filed an unfair practices claim against the state human resources department in July.
- A majority of union members who participate in voting would have to vote “yes” for a strike to be authorized.
Members of California’s largest state workers union will begin voting on whether they’re willing to strike over what they call unfair practices during the summer’s union contract negotiations with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents roughly 96,000 state workers, announced plans to hold a strike authorization vote during a press conference Monday in Downtown Sacramento.
“State workers are ready to hold the line until the Newsom administration, or its successor, bargains fairly to reach a contract that recognizes state workers’ hard work and essential functions,” SEIU said in a news release.
The workers that make up Local 1000 include state librarians, nurses, office workers, custodians, food servers and many others.
They’ve been working without a contract since June 30, when their prior three-year deal with their state employer expired.
In July, Local 1000 filed a claim of unfair employer conduct, known as an unfair practice charge, against the California Department of Human Resources.
The union claimed the state rejected multiple of the union’s proposals for the new contract the day before the existing deal expired, among other allegations.
“The State’s conduct constitutes surface bargaining, inflexible bargaining, and bad faith,” the union said in paperwork filed with the labor board.
The union filed the claim with the Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees relations between public workers and employers.
SEIU has brought proposals to bargaining that include a 20% general salary increase over three years, greater state contributions toward workers’ healthcare costs and “transparent telework policies based on operational needs,” according to the news release.
A spokesperson for California’s human resources department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike authorization vote.
When would workers strike?
If most of the Local 1000 workers who participate in the vote support authorizing a strike, union leaders will be able to call one at any time.
“Our message to the state of California is simple: take state workers seriously. Take this vote seriously. And do not underestimate the power of workers standing together,” said Joseph Bryant, an executive vice president of SEIU.
He told Local 1000 members: “If you strike, you will not strike alone.”
A Local 1000 strike would be the first statewide strike in the union’s history, according to union leaders.
“This is a big moment for us,” SEIU President Anica Wells said in a statement to Abridged by PBS KVIE.
The union last voted to authorize a strike in 2016.
Voting will start Monday and last for four weeks, SEIU spokesperson Erica Noll said.
“This fight does not end in an election … administrations may change, but our demands will not,” Walls said Monday.
The vote result and union’s next step will be announced in early October, she said.
