As the sun rose Wednesday morning, more than 200 purple-clad strikers descended on the corner of Van Ness and McAllister to gather in front of the California Public Utilities Commission building. The strikers were state workers, members of SEIU 1000, which represents almost 100,000 employees of the state of California.
Similar strikes took place simultaneously across the state, the biggest being in Sacramento.
The union has been working without a contract since June 30. In contract negotiations with the state’s Human Relations division, the workers demanded a 20 percent wage increase over three years, lower healthcare costs, and a more accommodating telework policy (workers are currently required to come into the office four days a week).
The union says the state waited until June 30—the last day of their existing contract—to reject all of the union’s economic proposals, citing “no money” for additional compensation. Since then, SEIU 1000 members have been working without a contract.
In July, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Public Employment Relations Board alleging a variety of wrongdoings by the state during the bargaining process. SEIU claims CalHR rejected economic proposals without considering their merit or offering alternatives, came to the bargaining table with a predetermined economic position, and generally bargained in bad faith. After the union declared an impasse, more than 96 percent of SEIU 1000 members voted to authorize a strike.
The one-day work stoppage was the first strike in the union’s history. Union members, dressed in purple and hoisting signs calling for a fair contract and respect for workers, chanted for hours about the power of the people and the fight for fair wages. The air was filled with blaring hip-hop, nonstop car horns, and shouts for CalHR to meet demands. A man in an inflatable purple dinosaur costume shuffled along the sidewalk with a sign that read “Honk 4 Workers.”
Terry Gray, president of SEIU 1000 District Labor Council 743, said the strike was meant to motivate the state to come to the table and offer a counterproposal that benefits workers instead of rejecting the union’s demands outright. She also said SEIU members are dedicated to their jobs, and the fact they were driven to strike in the first place should be a red flag for the state.
“State workers are loyal, we gotta take the punches, the hits—whatever the governor puts out, we adjust and continue to work,” Gray said. “This is our first time saying, we’re tired of you pushing us around, we’re tired of you not negotiating with us, we’re tired of you taking us for granted, and like any relationship, somebody’s gonna break up. So we’re breaking up with the state of California right about now.”
Gray said the strike was meant to demonstrate the value of state employees by showing the state what one day without them is like.
Several other unions came out in support of SEIU 1000. The strike was attended by members from CAPS-UAW Local 1115, SEIU Local 1021, and CASE, among others. Rob Rossi, a workplace steward for CAPS, said he was supporting SEIU 1000’s strike because he believed CalHR was engaging in a “pattern of unfair bargaining” with unions, citing a 3 percent raise that was withheld from his own union in July until lawmakers intervened and passed AB 113.
Strikers’ chants were occasionally interrupted by guest speakers offering motivation over a loudspeaker. Ethel Long-Scott, executive director of the Women’s Economic Agenda Project and an activist for more than five decades, sharply criticized billionaires and told the crowd to stand in solidarity with other working class people.
“They’re gonna tell (a) poor-ass worker that they’re gonna lose their MediCal because some state worker is getting a few dollars. Well, actually, those things are lies,” Long-Scott said. “We understand that we, together, make a floor, and that floor is sinking in America, really internationally. We’ve got to think about how do we not only link arms, but build and go after what those billionaires don’t want.”
Other speakers included AFSCME 3299 Vice President Kathryn Lybarger, CASE Treasurer Jamie Ormond, and SEIU 1021 Regional Vice President Kristin Hardy.
As the morning went on, union members periodically marched around the block, paced up and down the street, and populated the bus stop median, chanting all the while. At one point the strike even broke into two groups on either side of McAllister to compete over who could chant the loudest. No winner was officially declared, but it was clear the group on the south side of the street came out on top.
Finnegan Mennuti, an antitrust law analyst and strike attendee, said in an interview that while the union’s demands are important, he was more focused on demonstrating union power and the critical role of the working class.
“More money is great, telework is important too,” Mennuti said, “but for me, this is showing up to show everyone that workers have power, and that, really, we are the ones that make the world go round.”
