Overview
- Tens of thousands of SEIU Local 1000 members walked off statewide on Wednesday in a one-day strike that included pickets in Sacramento, Oakland, Los Angeles and other cities.
- The union says the strike responds to bad-faith bargaining by the California Department of Human Resources and is seeking a 20% pay boost over three years, bigger state health contributions and expanded remote-work rules.
- The state labor board found that CalHR “refused to meet and confer in good faith,” a ruling the union cites to justify the walkout and its bargaining demands.
- The strike risks delays at the DMV, slower EDD benefit processing, reduced CalFresh assistance and some state park disruptions, and about 95,000 of the union’s roughly 100,000 members were eligible to participate while about 5,000 are excluded as essential workers.
- CalHR filed its own unfair-practice complaint and says departments have contingency plans, and both sides are scheduled for mediated talks on Oct. 30 with the union warning it may escalate action if talks do not resolve the dispute.