By admin 
California’s largest state worker union announced Monday that it’s holding a strike authorization vote. SEIU Local 1000, which represents about 100,000 state workers across nine bargaining units, accuses the state of bargaining in bad faith. The union’s contract expired at the end of June.
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“If our members vote yes, they are giving our union the authority to call a strike, and thousands of state workers could walk off the job if the Newsom administration refuses to bargain fairly,” SEIU Local 1000 President Anica Walls said.
Members will start casting votes Wednesday on SEIU Local 1000’s website. Voting will last four weeks.
SEIU Local 1000 members last authorized a strike in 2016, but narrowly averted a walkout with a last-minute deal. If members go on strike this time, it would mark only the second state worker walkout in California history — both would be under Gov. Gavin Newsom. The first occurred in November 2023, when state scientists represented by CAPS-UAW Local 1115 took to the picket line.
The 2023 strike strengthened the scientist union’s membership, as the percentage of eligible employees who were members of CAPS-UAW increased roughly 17 percentage points, from 68% of eligible workers to 85%. However, the strike didn’t immediately result in an agreement.
“It did take some time, but we were able to reach a historic tentative agreement that made progress toward closing some of our pay equity gaps,” CAPS-UAW Vice President Justin Garcia said.
Bargaining in bad faith allegations
Negotiations for SEIU Local 1000’s new contract started in April. The union’s top priorities include a 20% raise across three years, telework benefits — which would include $25 commuting stipends for those required to work in-person — and health benefits to ensure accessibility to affordable medical services.
The union filed a charge with the Public Employment Relations Board in late July, when it said the state denied requests with budget implications at the last minute. Of 16 such proposals, the PERB filing states, nine were rejected the same day the union’s contract expired.
As of late July, tentative agreements were made on 13 issues without a price tag. What these agreements are hasn’t been disclosed, but the PERB filing states these provisions update language, ensure compliance with state law and clarify existing practices.
An agreement wasn’t made before the legislative session ended last week, a key deadline for lawmakers to approve a deal. Any agreement made while lawmakers aren’t in Sacramento would be considered tentative until it’s signed by the governor and approved by the Legislature.
Representatives from each of SEIU’s nine bargaining units spoke Monday, each of them expressing support for a strike and putting the blame on the “Newsom administration.”
“We’re proud of the work we do, and we deserve the respect for that work,” said Bob Holtz, chair of the bargaining unit for professional educators and librarians. “That includes a Newsom administration that respects us enough to bargain with us in good faith.”
Newsom’s summer battle with unions
Several unions have criticized the Newsom administration this summer, including CAPS-UAW and California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment (CASE). These unions and others had representatives present Monday to support SEIU Local 1000 when it announced the vote.
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Newsom’s return to office mandate requiring many state workers to return to the office four days a week has been subject to criticism. CASE has filed more than a dozen PERB charges for issues related to the RTO mandate, particularly around lackluster privacy accommodations for attorneys discussing confidential information.
“We are not feeling that this administration is acting in the interest of the state worker, of the labor movement and we’re gonna continue to be loud about that,” CASE President Talene Ghazarian said.
“We could sit down and negotiate a resolution to this (RTO mandate), but they’re simply not willing to negotiate with us,” CASE Vice President Matthew Gauger added.
While the state scientist union, CAPS-UAW, also filed an RTO-related charge with PERB, its major battle with the Newsom administration is about unfunded raises.
State-employed scientists expected to receive special salary adjustments ranging from 3% to 5% on July 1, but the Governor’s Office said those raises were contingent on the legislature setting aside funding. Since the legislature didn’t include the salary adjustments in the initial budget, state scientists didn’t receive these raises.
The raises weren’t included in the budget presented to the Legislature by the Department of Finance, which falls under the governor. Nick Schroeder, an analyst with the Legislative Analyst’s Office, last month said the only indication of unfunded raises in the budget proposal was the omission itself.
“The Legislature was also not aware of this issue and then the blame was placed on the legislature (by the Governor’s Office) for not funding our raises,” CAPS-UAW’s Garcia said.
These wage increases, totaling about $8.8 million, were approved by the Legislature last week and were sent to Newsom.
Angela Musallam, a spokesperson for the California Department of Human Resources, said the agency is bargaining in good faith and plans to maintain essential operations.
“If necessary, the state will explore all available options and implement those that reasonably protect critical public services,” Musallam wrote in a statement.
As tensions increase between the administration and state worker unions, SEIU Local 1000’s vote to authorize a strike could add a labor-related grievance to the governor’s resume just months before he leaves office.
“It’s about whether the Newsom administration will bargain in good faith over our pay, our benefits, our working conditions and how we deliver public services,” SEIU Local 1000 Chief Negotiator Bobby Roy said. “We are ready to bargain. They need to be ready too.”
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This story was originally published September 7, 2026 at 11:46 AM.