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Posted on 10/22/2026 8:26:49 AM PDT by DFG
Garbed in purple and holding signs that read “Fair contracts now!” and “Here to serve, not to starve,” thousands of state workers rallied at government buildings across California Wednesday to protest what they describe as unfair labor practices by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.
SEIU Local 1000’s first strike in its 44-year history unfolded in several cities including Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The union — which represents about 100,000 workers, nearly half the state workforce — has been in contentious labor talks with the Newsom administration since its latest contract expired in late June.
Its members want a better raise than Newsom has offered as well as more flexibility to work from home. Newsom just a year ago demanded wage reductions from the union to help shore up a budget crisis. State workers have accepted pay cuts in three of the eight years Newsmom led the state.
“The budget is balanced on state employees’ backs,” said Local 1000 President Anica Walls. “It’s just showing how frustrated employees are with the lack of prioritizing us as people who really help California remain the fourth largest economy in the world,” she said.
Angela Musallam, a spokesperson for the California Department of Human Resources, which handles labor negotiations on behalf of the administration, said the department “remains focused on achieving a fair and responsible agreement and continues to be available at the bargaining table.” Both parties are scheduled to resume mediation talks on Oct. 30
In anticipation of the strike, operations at some state departments have been modified or limited, including at DMV offices and parks. Outside the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building in downtown Oakland, workers marched outside chanting “No contract, no peace.” They played drums, snacked on muffins and Little Caesar pizzas and cheered as cars honked along Clay Street in solidarity.
Amy Dickinson, an information technology associate at California Department of Industrial Relations’ Office of Information Systems, said she was striking “because the state has decided that we are not worth even bargaining with.”
“They have done nothing but say ‘no’ all this time. They won’t even give any counteroffers — that’s not bargaining, that’s a maximalist position,” said the San Leandro resident.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, who represents the East Bay Area,, spoke to the crowd in Oakland before joining them briefly in marching.
“Nothing happens without the workers,” said Simon. “For anyone to say that you don’t deserve wage justice, they haven’t looked at the rates of rent … at grocery prices.”
“There is enough for everything that you’re asking for. But the floor is respect.”
Unions, including Local 1000, traditionally are Newsom’s allies. They contributed to his campaigns and helped him defeat Republican opponents. But the Local 1000 strike is the second state worker walkout to occur on his watch. Previously, the California Association of Professional Scientists held a three-day strike in 2023.
Besides pay boosts, Local 1000 members are pushing for higher state contributions for healthcare coverage, and changes to Newsom’s four-day-a-week in-office mandate, which they argue costs workers and taxpayers money and increases traffic and pollution.
In Sacramento, Don Chaddock, a longtime analyst for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, wore a Santa costume and held a sign reading “Newsom + CalHR = Naughty List.” Chaddock, who volunteers as Santa during the holidays for rural schools in his foothills area, said he is frustrated by the state’s in-office policy, which has him commuting to a suburb south of Sacramento.
“I don’t mind in-person if we’re actually doing something in-person,” he said. “Right now, I drive to Elk Grove to sit in a cubicle.”
Rebecca Bean, another employee who is against the return-to-office mandate, put it even more bluntly: “We’re not asking for stupid sh—.”
Bean commutes three hours a day by public transportation to Oakland as an analyst at the industrial relations’ office. She said the policy has made it more difficult to take care of her ailing mother who is in her seventies.
“Every time she has an emergency, I have to run all the way home. She won’t go to any medical appointments without me,” Bean said. Before the policy took effect in July, Bean scheduled appointments at the end or beginning of the day and was out only a few hours.
“Whereas here I have to schedule at least four hours to do something,” she said.
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And no one noticed. Government probably “functioned” exactly the same without them.
The Purple People Beaters are back.
SEIU money runs Californication.
Feeling unloved?
Need healthcare?
Get a Mexican birth certificate.
SEIU, the biggest pack or fat arsed arseholes you could ever find. Total commie trash.
Terminate their positions and jobs. You’re guaranteed to be celebrated in national politics.
What is the average compensation including both pay and benefits for California state employees?
Wgat is the average compensation for California private sector employees?
How do retirement plans compare? Healthcare plans?
The average total compensation for a California state government employee was estimated at $143,000 per year (including wages and benefits such as pensions and health insurance) in recent policy analyses from the Hoover Institution, while earlier state agency averages recorded by the California Policy Center tracked around $116,887 before subsequent adjustments and benefit pre-funding factors.
Key Details on State Compensation
Why no, they’re not Communists.
They’re Mexicans.
We call it the Illegal Alien union.
Being Communists would require some level of intelligence however malevolent to mitigate the unfairness of capitalist economic systems.
They have none of that.
Just troglodyte “Me wants yore moaney gringo”.
https://www.seiu1000.org/about/
About Local 1000
Local 1000 of the Service Employees International Union is a united front of more than 100,000 working people employed by the State of California, making Local 1000 the largest public sector union in California and one of the largest in the country.
Local 1000 represents members who contribute almost $6 billion dollars to the California economy and who work in more than 1400 worksites in California, Texas, New York, Chicago and Hawaii. We also fight to ensure that state workers…and all workers…are treated fairly and respectfully in the workplace, and are protected from unsafe work conditions.
stop payments to illegals and use some of that.
Its members want a better raise.
With the amount of pay and perks they need to be ashamed and pay some back.
IIRC—_THE SEIU STARTED AS A JANITOR”S UNION.
PLEASE EXPLAIN IN GREAT DETAIL HOW A JANITOR CAN ‘WORK FROM HOME”.
SEIU is one of the most overpaid, pampered and spoiled rotten govt unions in the world. I’d love to have them abolished.
Look at well X has done after canning 90% of the “jobs” there.
I would argue most of these government jobs are redundant or outright unnecessary, but feeds the unions and keeps activists on the payroll.
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