By admin 
Next week’s strike appears to be moving ahead. The Public Employment Relations Board on Friday sided with SEIU Local 1000 by expressing its intent to deny the state’s request to block the strike.
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“We are ready to hold the line on Oct. 21,” said SEIU Local 1000 President Anica Walls.
Wednesday’s strike was prompted by what the union considers unfair bargaining practices, such as last-minute rejections of proposals that would affect the state’s budget. The union hasn’t had a contract since the end of June and negotiations have been stalled since late July.
The California Department of Human Resources wanted to halt to strike because it believes the union hasn’t fully participated in impasse requirements by calling the strike before undergoing mediations, which started Thursday. In response, the union said it is fulfilling impasse requirements.
Ahead of PERB’s decision, CalHR had conditionally asked to increase the number of essential workers, if the agency didn’t block the strike, to about 5,350. That’s the number of workers it believes ensures public health and safety. This includes medical staff at state prisons, technology specialists at California Highway Patrol and custodians at state hospitals.
SEIU Local 1000 proposed nearly 3,250 essential workers. PERB, which referees public labor disputes, granted CalHR’s essential worker request in part. It accepted the union’s proposal and added nearly 1,160 additional workers, which brings the total number of staffers prohibited from striking to about 4,400.
That’s down from about 6,000 workers who were deemed too important to participate in the union’s last strike threat in 2016. Many of those were medical staff, cooks and custodians. A last-minute deal was made with that threat to avoid a walkout.
Of the nearly 1,160 workers PERB added, about 1,080 of them are in Correctional Health Care Services. This includes certified nursing assistants and nurses who serve about 88,800 prison inmates.
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The decision comes after SEIU Local 1000 officials examined staffing numbers during holidays, which were lower than what CalHR said was necessary to maintain public safety during the one-day strike.
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“The board finds that the state has been unable to provide accurate information regarding the number of available replacement workers,” said PERB’s interim General Counsel Joseph Eckhart in a memo to the two parties obtained by The Sacramento Bee.
In the letter, PERB said it will not block the strike if the union agrees to the additional essential workers. SEIU Local 1000 told The Bee it agrees with those conditions.
“We will respect PERB’s decision and make sure our members who are designated as essential know they need to report to work,” Walls said.
The essential worker limit is generally negotiated between the employer and the union. SEIU Local 1000 and CalHR started negotiations on Sept. 16 to establish the number. They met again on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, but CalHR canceled meetings for the following week. Union officials, in a PERB filing, said they were told the meetings were canceled because the state needed to “reassess its staffing needs.”
“I offered to meet throughout the weekend of Oct. 10 and 11, around the clock,” said SEIU Local 1000 Contract Department Director Brooke Pierman in a statement to PERB. “I also said we would be open to asking for PERB to assign a mediator to help mediate (essential worker) negotiations, potentially conducting multiple tables at once, with the goal of accomplishing a comprehensive line pass agreement sooner.”
Walls said the union always aimed to continue California’s essential services.
“We have said from the beginning that we can protect public health and safety while protecting our members’ right to strike,” Walls said.
CalHR declined to comment on PERB’s letter, but said it “remains committed through this process to ensure the continuity of state operations and critical services.”
“The department continues working with SEIU Local 1000 toward a fair and responsible agreement for state employees,” said CalHR spokesperson Angela Musallam in a statement.
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This story was originally published October 16, 2026 at 1:20 PM.