California looks to block state worker strike, asks labor agency to halt walkout

Thousands of California state workers are preparing for a planned one-day strike next week. Now state officials are trying to halt the walkout before it begins.

SEIU Local 1000 called the strike last week after 96.2% of voting members approved the action, capping months of escalating tension. Contract negotiations have been strained since late July, when the union filed an unfair bargaining charge accusing the state of rejecting budget-related proposals at the last minute. Bargaining subsequently stalled for more than two months before a formal impasse was declared on Oct. 2.

Seeking to block the Oct. 21 one-day strike, the California Department of Human Resources has turned to the Public Employment Relations Board, the state’s public labor referee. State officials contend the walkout is unlawful because the union failed to exempt employees deemed essential to public safety and is not properly engaging in mediations due to the call for a one-day strike. Mediations are expected to start this Thursday.

“PERB should move immediately to seek a temporary restraining order barring SEIU from striking until statutory impasse procedures are completed,” attorneys for CalHR wrote in the filing.

When a union goes on strike, it generally meets with the state to discuss which workers are essential for public safety and prohibited from walking out. SEIU Local 1000 and the state met but didn’t come to an agreement.

If PERB doesn’t block the strike, CalHR is asking the agency to bar at least 5,350 employees from participating. This includes — but is not limited to — nurses at state hospitals and prisons, cooks employed by the California Highway Patrol academy and counselors at the California School for the Deaf.

The union suggested prohibiting about 3,200 people from participating, SEIU Local 1000 Research Department Director Kenny Sims wrote in a statement to PERB. It also offered at least 600 more as alternates.

SEIU Local 1000, in its rebuttal filing, argues the strike is legal because it believes it is meeting the impasse requirements. It also contends the strike is allowed because it’s related to its unfair bargaining practices charge.

“The union has not characterized the Oct. 21 strike ... to pressure the state to agree to its contract proposals,” a lawyer for SEIU Local 1000 wrote in a PERB filing. “Accordingly, the planned strike was provoked by the state’s unfair practices, and thus, is protected.”

When SEIU local 1000 threatened a strike in 2016, an agreement was made at the last-minute to avoid a walkout. About 6,000 workers were deemed too important to participate in the threat a decade ago. Many of those were medical staff, cooks and custodians.

Negotiations fail to identify essential workers

SEIU Local 1000 has been preparing for a strike since at least late July, according to PERB filings and correspondence between state and union officials reviewed by The Sacramento Bee. That’s when the union asked the state for information to aid essential worker negotiations, including staffing requirements during reduced operations.

The two entities first met about essential workers on Sept. 16, SEIU Local 1000 Contract Department Director Brooke Pierman wrote in a statement to PERB in support of the union. They met again on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 when departments communicated staffing needs. These numbers depended on the length of the strike, which wasn’t announced at the time.

Union and state officials were supposed to reconvene the following week, according to Pierman. She said the meetings were canceled by CalHR to “reassess its staffing needs.”

» The State Worker newsletter: The news state workers need to know

Pierman said she texted Brian Lin Walsh, the principal labor relations officer at CalHR, on Oct. 7 to resume negotiations. The attempt was unsuccessful.

The next day, after SEIU Local 1000 gave CalHR a written notice of strike, Lin Walsh called Pierman to inform SEIU Local 1000 that the state would seek an injunction through PERB. Pierman, in the PERB statement, reported she continued calls to resume negotiations on essential workers.

“I offered to meet throughout the weekend of Oct. 10 and 11, around the clock,” Pierman wrote. “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.”

CalHR ultimately told the union it does not believe further essential worker discussions would be productive, according to Pierman.

SEIU Local 1000, which has been without a contract since the end of June, filed a separate charge Friday accusing the state of bargaining in bad faith on who is considered an essential worker.

Who is essential?

Most of the workers the state wants to deem essential are employed by the California Correctional Health Care Services. These staffers include nurses and nursing assistants who care for prison inmates. The agency serves about 88,800 patients.

The debate also centers on medical personnel in the Department of Developmental Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs and state hospitals. The dispute extends to prison and hospital cooks, custodians at hospitals and California Highway Patrol information technology specialists — to name a few.

SEIU Local 1000 Research Program Coordinator Sarah McGinn said, in a statement to PERB, many of the duties highlighted by the state are covered, at least in part, by external contract workers who are not represented by SEIU Local 1000.

McGinn identified more than $3.1 billion in contracts including a $1.95 billion agreement for nurses, dietitians and nursing assistants to help CCHCS. She also highlights IT help at CHP and medical staff at state hospitals and veterans affairs.

“The state already maintains substantial active contracts for the same general categories of work it claims must be performed by bargaining-unit employees during the one-day strike,” McGinn wrote. “These existing contractual arrangements are relevant to evaluating whether the state has other available resources to maintain operations without requiring the additional bargaining-unit employees identified in its essential-staffing proposals.”

Holiday schedules included fewer workers than what CalHR asked for, according to information Sims, SEIU Local 1000’s research department director, included in his statement. This includes the state’s initial ask for “304 CalVet Certified Nursing Assistants compared with 143 on the premium holiday; 393 CDCR Correctional Supervising Cooks compared with 313; 224 Department of State Hospitals custodians compared with 184; and 1,136 DSH Registered Nurses compared with 822.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2026 at 10:42 AM with the headline "California looks to block state worker strike, asks labor agency to halt walkout."