California's Largest State Worker Union Sets Its First-Ever Strike for Oct. 21

California's largest state employee union says it will walk off the job for one day on Wednesday, Oct. 21, the first strike in the union's history.

The vote

SEIU Local 1000 represents about 100,000 state workers across roughly 140 departments and agencies, from nurses and custodians to cooks, IT staff and office analysts. Voting on a strike authorization ran from Sept. 9 to Oct. 7, and the union announced Thursday that 96.2% of members who voted said yes, according to KCRA.

The union calls it an "unfair practice strike," meaning it is framed as a response to what the union says is the state's bad-faith bargaining rather than an open-ended walkout. Members who take part will not report to work that day. The union filed an unfair practice charge with the state's Public Employment Relations Board in July, KCRA reported.

What workers want

The union's contract expired at the end of June. It is pushing for higher pay, more affordable health coverage and what it calls "telework that works," a response to the administration's push to bring state employees back to the office after years of remote work. CalMatters reported that the union argues the state can afford more, pointing to a $20 billion rise in general fund spending over the past two years.

Union president Anica Walls said in a statement that members "are prepared to hold the line" and want a contract that makes it possible "to afford to live in the communities we serve."

What it could mean for the public

The union has never held a statewide walkout. It came close in 2016, when a last-minute deal with then-Gov. Jerry Brown headed off a strike, CalMatters noted. Walls told CalMatters that residents could see delays at offices such as those handling unemployment claims if workers strike.

In Sacramento, the union plans for members to picket at their worksites in the morning and then rally outside the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) at 1810 16th Street. With Newsom in his final months in office, it is not clear whether a deal will come before the strike date or wait for the next administration.