Two candidates running for president of SEIU Local 1000 are promoting a long-shot contract change that would give workers more flexibility to strike but would likely carry big implications for other employment protections.þþTony Owens, a CalPERS IT specialist and elected vice president of the union, and Richard Louis Brown, an analyst with an advisory committee at the State Treasurer’s Office, said in interviews that they would push to remove the “no strike” clause from the union’s employment contract.þþThe two candidates are campaigning for president of the state’s largest union against incumbent Yvonne Walker and challengers Sophia Perkins and Miguel Cordova. Mail ballots are due May 20.þþOwens and Brown have promoted the change amid state worker frustration over the pay cuts their unions agreed to last year, when California faced a projected $54 billion budget deficit during the early months of the coronavirus outbreak. The projected deficit has since been replaced by a surplus, while the pay cuts remain.þþBut the proposed change to the strike rule, if it were to reach the bargaining table, could raise all kinds of unanticipated issues and would likely require major concessions to become a reality, according to attorneys representing both unions and public employers.þþ“I think there are a lot of ramifications here, and I don’t think a lot of people have thought them through,” said Gary Messing, a partner with Sacramento-based firm Messing Adam & Jasmine who represents state public safety unions. “Even if they have thought them through, I don’t think anyone knows what the answers are.”þþMessing spoke generally about state law governing strikes, noting that public safety employees face much tighter restrictions on strikes than non-safety employees.þþTim Yeung, a Sacramento-based attorney who served as a legal adviser to the Public Employment Relations Board and now represents public and private employers, said no-strike agreements are a cornerstone of negotiated contracts.þþ“It’s all about labor peace,” Yeung said. “When we agree to a contract, we’re agreeing that for the next three years or whatever, we’re not going to have a strike. If you can walk out at any time, that defeats much of the purpose of what we’re trying to do.”þþYeung said no-strike clauses are nearly universal in union contracts. Typically the clauses expire when contracts expire, but the law governing collective bargaining among California state employees keeps the provisions in place even after contracts expire.þþOwens said the union might have been positioned to take a stronger stance at the bargaining table over last year’s pay cuts if it weren’t for the no-strike clause.þþ“If the state is aware that that option (to strike) doesn’t really exist, it’s kind of like you’re fighting with one hand tied behind your back, so to speak,” Owens said.þþLocal 1000 and all of the other state employee unions reached agreements in June that reduced most state workers’ base pay by 9.23% while giving them two flexible days off per month and suspending the contributions they normally make toward their retirement health care.þþWalker, who led the union’s negotiations with the state, declined an interview request for this story through a spokesman.þþThe unions agreed to the reductions after Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature passed legislation that would have automatically imposed more onerous furloughs if the unions didn’t agree to the terms.
Source sacbee.com
