r/news • u/IchTanze • 10h ago
California state workers launching 1-day strike over return-to-office mandate, pay and healthcare
https://apnews.com/article/california-state-workers-strike-newsom-a3a4f547a612a68360e75e7feaaffb963.2k
u/TheGlassHammer 9h ago
It’s a warning. Showing they are willing to strike. I wish them a full participation.
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u/Living-Record-4711 7h ago
CA state worker here. I’m just commenting on the top for visibility.
This strike is specifically an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike. The strike isn’t due to RTO, pay, and benefits, it’s specifically about the state not engaging in fair bargaining practices.
See more specific info here: https://www.seiu1000.org/strike/
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u/TherionSaysWhat 2h ago
Also a CA state worker verifying the above. The state has purposefully lied, delayed, and tried to union bust us instead of bargaining over what I consider line items that are rational, reasonable, and massively net-positive for California (and tax payers).
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u/pumpkintrovoid 1h ago
Another CA state worker here. The State waited until the last day of our contract to respond to the union’s bargaining proposal and agreed to nothing. That is bad faith bargaining.
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u/Milky_Words 7h ago
LA County workers also experiencing lots of ULP. Our union needs more guts like you guys.
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u/Living-Record-4711 6h ago
I’m actually a supervisor, so I’m excluded from the strike. I’m so happy because my whole team of direct reports are all out there on the line! :D
I hope your union sees what SEIU 1000 is doing and gets encouragement to pursue a strike, too.
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u/chicklette 9h ago
CSU support staff are heading in that direction as well.
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u/TheGlassHammer 9h ago
Excellent. Workers united are very powerful. Wishing them all the best of luck
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u/IndividualTension887 5h ago
Meanwhile the Chancelors at the Universities are all making $750k in TCP, and admin pay is $220k a year or more... All this while the support staff sucks hind tit, and students pay tens of thousands a year in "fees..."
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u/pimppapy 5h ago
They do so much hard work though to earn all that. You have any idea how difficult it is to attend galas, rub shoulders with ultra wealthy people, and just wine and dine 3-4 times a month? /s
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u/IndividualTension887 5h ago
All while students live in roach infested dorms, tripled up like prisoners, take online classes taught by "contractors", and paying $3-5k a month each for the privelege...
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u/brickwindow 1h ago
Newsom is an enemy of the working class and yet another grifter politician. I manage a team here in CA and my entire staff called out today. I couldn't be more proud.
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u/DamnitRuby 9h ago
I'm a civil servant in another state and we are not allowed to strike because of the Taylor law.
So good for them!
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u/C4PT-pA5Tq 9h ago
Thats wild!!! How can a law grant the right to organize, YET restrict protesting? How can a law restrict the first amendment?
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u/jamesdcreviston 9h ago
Many unions have that. For example the NALC (Letter Carriers) did a wildcat strike in the 70s but it was illegal and they wanted to fire everyone but after the National Guard could not deliver mail they won the strike.
I believe police and firefighters also cannot strike.
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u/TheGlassHammer 9h ago
Cops have to get “the flu” when they want to strike. Some call it the blue flu. Air Traffic controllers also aren’t allowed to strike thanks to Regan. They are definitely some people who deserve to strike the most.
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u/jmlinden7 8h ago edited 4h ago
ATC wasn't allowed to strike even before Reagan but Reagan was the first one who actually enforced that rule
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u/13lackjack 9h ago
There was also a strike organizing under Reagan in 1981 and that threat won us arbitrations. Sadly there isn’t the same level of organization that there once was
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u/CanuckPanda 9h ago
In Canada “Essential Services” are prohibited from striking. This explicitly includes police, fire, and (iirc) ambulance and doctors (but not nurses).
The alternative is “work to rule”, where these groups can “protest” by doing the absolute bare minimum as defined by their regulations and codes of conduct. Basically they stop doing all community outreach and non-mandatory paperwork.
I think it’s fair that those groups “can’t” strike, so long as there’s mechanisms of redress in place.
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u/tnb641 8h ago
Yeah but let's be honest, what those services can legally stop doing mostly impacts the communities and people around them, and not so much their employers.
You'd think people would take note and vote against the people actively harming community services, but, well nope.
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u/CanuckPanda 8h ago edited 8h ago
That’s exactly what work to rule is for. It’s meant to pressure the public so to put pressure on the state.
Basically it comes down to the public recognizing all the non-paid/above-and-beyond things so the public says to the state, “bro just pay them for that, we want it.”
Work to rule also heavily relies on police/fire/etc having good public perceptions. A work to rule cop in, say, Toronto, is less likely to get public pressure in their favour.
Work to rule can also backfire when the police have a negative reputation, where it boils down to the public saying “yall are already fucking around just get back to work.”
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u/Shankurmom 8h ago
Do you not remember the "work stopages" police departments did during covid when people wanted them to stop murdering brown people? That was them striking.
The funniest part of all of that was crime went down when police didn't create it.
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u/DamnitRuby 9h ago
I believe it has to do with public safety/public access. Like we are largely being paid from taxes and grants, so we should be held accountable. But it's been in law for longer than I've worked here and I understood when getting hired that striking wasn't an option.
Corrections officers actually DID strike last year and like 2000 were fired because of it. https://www.corrections1.com/jail-management/n-y-corrections-commissioner-stands-by-firing-2-000-cos-after-2025-strike
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u/No_Growth6200 9h ago
Seiu had to get permission from a state control board and show that CALHR has not been negotiating fairly/ at all.
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u/mauvewaterbottle 9h ago
Texas has a similar law, which is why the teachers don’t strike
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u/BoleroMuyPicante 7h ago
Same, I'm a fed employee and we legally can't strike. I'm happy for California public employees and wish them the best.
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u/OutlyingPlasma 7h ago
not allowed to strike
You are always allowed to strike. Just gotta keep striking until it works. Striking has always been illegal in some fashion but it has always worked regardless of what stupid laws the rich have passed. Union members were beaten, and even killed for striking.
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u/DamnitRuby 7h ago
Unlike other places where a union protects your right to strike, civil servants here do not have that right. We can be fined and I union leaders can be jailed. So no, we are not "allowed" to strike. We certainly could, but convincing the 200k people or whatever the state workforce is to strike and potentially lose their job. That's exactly what happened to 2000 corrections officers last year.
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u/LongjumpingFall1584 8h ago
Pssssst - striking has NEVER been “legal”. For any Org, public or private.
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u/StoicSunbro 8h ago
I used to be a federal employee and I always hated the acceptance of this. Especially when Musk was taking a buzzsaw to the federal sevice.
"Oh we cant strike because our employer says so". Okay, do nothing and get fucked. That's your choice. My choice was to find a better job. Good luck keeping things working.
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u/LongjumpingFall1584 7h ago
100%.
Some people can just take a deeper fucking than others.
Until everyone is on the same page, we are stuck.
Doesn’t matter if striking is illegal if the whole workforce walks at once - but they all gotta walk.
And if the org fires everyone over it? Fuck ‘em. Make their ability to operate with scabs untenable. Boycott them. Take other direct actions to impede capital.
This all takes direct action though that many are unwilling to participate in until AFTER everything has been lost.
The history of Labor Rights in this country are recorded in blood. But that history is suppressed and unknown for the most part by those living and working here.
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u/_head_ 10h ago
Return to office mandates come from organizations who have no idea how to manage their employees or their business.
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u/ReggieEvansTheKing 9h ago
It’s either (a) to benefit commercial real estate and force people to consume or (b) to reduce staff without firings. Both have nothing to do with work quality. Most companies have survived and are posting consistent profits despite their employees doing the same amount of work that 2-3 people did 5 years ago. The only reason RTO is happening is because of a+b and because the job market is so horrible that people can’t leave for competitors.
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u/SchwiftyGameOnPoint 9h ago
I feel like (at least in my case) the first one is true.
The company I work for is a start-up. Was fine with 100% remote for people. Then they needed funding and part of the condition to receive money from the old rich guys was that they had to force employees back into an office. Thus some portion of the company's money now had to go into paying rent every month.
So either the old guys with money wanted their money to go to rent or they had no comprehension of how well things were running remotely and how much money could have been saved by not having a dedicated office.
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u/_cloud 9h ago
Or they own the office/know the owners, and want a slice of the pie to go to them.
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u/SchwiftyGameOnPoint 9h ago
Yeah that's pretty much what I was implying when I said they wanted their money to go to rent
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u/amazinglover 9h ago
McDonald's very famously make more on rent then sales and franchise fees.
I also know they sort of have to be an in person business but same concept as you mentioned.
A building and land being occupied is more valuable than one empty.
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u/jmlinden7 8h ago
That makes sense for McDonalds because they are an in-person business that specifically markets the physical convenience of their locations.
That makes no sense for companies that run via email and Zoom
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u/amazinglover 8h ago
Its the same concept.
A building or land being occupied is worth more.
The building or land is owned by the same grouod or business interest.
They need occupancy to increase its value.
If im an investor who also has real estate holdings why wouldn't I mandate they work in an office on land I control.
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u/OneWingedAngel09 8h ago
How will the old rich guys know if anyone is in the office? Will they make a surprise visit?
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u/SchwiftyGameOnPoint 8h ago
At the place I work, everyone scans ID cards when they enter the building. This checks attendance. Then management has to check that attendance and confirm people were in at those times. If someone didn't scan in they follow up with the person or the person's manager if it was not an excused absence. Then at the end of the week the in office attendance numbers are reported to the board (which includes the investors)
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u/Iced__t 9h ago
It’s either (a) to benefit commercial real estate and force people to consume or (b) to reduce staff without firings. Both have nothing to do with work quality. Most companies have survived and are posting consistent profits despite their employees doing the same amount of work that 2-3 people did 5 years ago. The only reason RTO is happening is because of a+b and because the job market is so horrible that people can’t leave for competitors.
My org is forcing RTO after spending a stupid amount of money renovating an office nobody wants to go to 🤣
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u/Wow_u_sure_r_dumb 8h ago
Sunk cost fallacy in action. It’s too expensive to drop our lease/sell our office so we’ll just put even more money into it making it even harder to get this albatross off our necks. They teach these useless morons what the sunk cost fallacy is in business school. Fucking MBAs
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u/atomic-fireballs 7h ago
But only idiots fall for the sunk cost fallacy, not geniuses like them. Therefore, it can't be the sunk cost fallacy. Duh.
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u/SAugsburger 9h ago
A non trivial percentage in the private sector are largely if not entirely about trying to increase turnover. Many RTO announcements precede layoffs where it is difficult to believe increasing turnover wasn't always the primary motivation regardless of whatever they claim the motivation. Not all, but many do. They were more effective at meaningfully increasing turnover years ago when there were more jobs that were either fully remote or at least more remote jobs. That being said for employees already on the edge of finding a new job for other reasons it can speed up their timetable. Even a single day in the office per week without compensation for the commute is a pay cut.
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u/el-gato-volador 7h ago
If you work for a large enough company you know there is a third reason and thats for negotiating tax breaks with the city. A fortune 100 company I worked with was determining whether to bring employees back into the office full time or have a hybrid approach. And one of the deciding factors was whether the city would grant them a better tax break deal or not. With employees returning to office being an incentive that they would bring to the table to the city if the deal went through. It didnt and they ended up keeping the remote option.
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u/Adventurous-Tone-311 9h ago
I can tell you it’s 100% to benefit a certain commercial real estate mogul.
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u/digitalmofo 7h ago
And that one lady who walks around the office yelling at people for looking at their phones. We all found out her job was BS when we all went WFH.
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u/Living-Record-4711 7h ago edited 7h ago
Rumor is it’s because LT Gov Eleni Kounalakis’ family owns commercial RE in downtown Sac. Yes, the same Eleni Kounalakis running for state treasurer.
Also because leave hour balances accumulated during covid & telework since people don’t need to call iff sick for every sniffle. Usually the max hours is somewhere around 760 before a worker is required to use some leave. It counts as a liability on the balance sheet, so the other rumor is Newsom is trying to force people to use leave balances to bring the liabilities down so the numbers look better in a campaign when he tries to run for prez.
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u/ReggieEvansTheKing 7h ago
Would it sicken you to know that she is related by family to the Kings COO Matina Kolokotronis? The only pre-Vivek constant in the Kings org and the one who guided the process of building the Golden 1 Center with public funds conveniently next to all of her extended family’s real estate.
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u/Living-Record-4711 6h ago
I don’t think I can feel any more sick at this point. We got a 0% raise last year, and now CalHR wants to give a 0% raise for the next 3 years as well. Yet the state apparently has a $2.8 BILLION surplus ahead of prior financial projections.
Yet average rank and file office workers are only making in the range of $4,000 to $6,000 per month gross pay (deduct about 33-35% from that for most ppl to get net.)
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u/bianary 9h ago
Don't forget option c): The executives like to have people in person to boss around.
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u/FozzysInsecurity 6h ago
I would say there's also (c) a certain kind of personality likes the idea of making people go somewhere
I haven't seen my director in weeks but he sure does want the rest of back in the office if he decides to pop in
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u/TumblrInGarbage 9h ago edited 9h ago
A government has a very real incentive to support local businesses and the downtown economy, to the point where many would argue that is one of government's responsibilities. WFH is bad for the downtown economy as governments are often very massive employers and their offices are almost exclusively located in downtown areas. Most people work, and without foot traffic during the day most businesses simply cannot persist. The push from governments to RTO is, in my opinion, almost exclusively driven by that incentive and from pressure from the companies backing the politicians to make it happen.
That said, if government is what props up downtown and keeps it alive, then the billionaires who own and overcharge rent for downtown locations that are often empty due to unrealistic costs should be taxed more.
EDIT: Billionaire real estate moguls should be penalized if their buildings are sitting empty for decades due to charging far more than is realistic. Recently places have implemented empty penalties for housing. It's time we apply that to commercial real estate.
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u/ReggieEvansTheKing 8h ago
This is very true but it ignores the fact that this inevitably hurts the economies of the surrounding suburbs that people are commuting from more than it helps the downtown economy.
The crux of this strike is in Sacramento (my home city). Downtown Sacramento has been dead since I was a kid in the 2000s. State workers don’t get paid enough to go out to dinner. My parents, who were both state workers and middle class, would take the bus to work and bring their own lunch every day. Downtown has never been a successful place to own a business. Even the restaurants anchored by Golden 1 have been failing lately, AFTER RTO. Nobody wants to drive 30-45 minutes to downtown just to pay $5 to park and then another $15 on cocktails. The only consistent sports this year are the Kings and A’s who are legitimately the worst run sports teams in their respective leagues. There are homeless everywhere, the streets are dirty, and stateworkers disappear at 5PM because they are all broke with a long commute to the home they can actually afford in citrus heights, natomas, elk grove, etc. The way to make downtown more vibrant is to make it a place where people live rather than work.
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u/digitalmofo 8h ago
There are businesses outside of the city center as well. People spend, just different places. State government should be fine with that as long as it's in-state.
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u/Swoly_Deadlift 7h ago
Instead of forcing workers who don’t need to commute into the office, perhaps cities should try to modernize and make their downtown areas a destination for more than just work. Implement vacancy taxes and encourage more businesses centered around in-person interactions to move in.
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u/rd1970 7h ago edited 4h ago
I think it's more than just downtown economies.
Governments at all levels all over the world are stomping out working from home everywhere they can. It forces people to get a second car, loan, insurance policy, fuel (30% of which is tax in some places), etc.
They're making workers prop up government revenue and the auto/insurance/banking/oil industries without having to call it the office income tax that it is.
And that's without getting into how people working from home could watch their own kids, cook their own meals, etc., and now have to pay someone else - with all of those transactions being taxed.
The wrong people (the working class) were suddenly saving a huge amount of money that would normally move up the ladder to the ownership class.
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u/SaveLansingParks 8h ago
A government has a very real incentive to support local businesses and the downtown economy, to the point where many would argue that is one of government's responsibilities.
Then the government has a RESPONSIBILITY to pay its staff at higher market level Private, not Public level wages and salaries, if it expects its staff to engage in socialism to protect those Private interests they supposedly have a responsibility to prop up. You can't have it be both ways 🙄
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u/No-Channel3917 7h ago
Not to knock your point but the government jobs are usually way more stable and have way better benefits than their private peers. I'm not going to trade better pay for higher premiums and less time off
Every worker should try to get better pay but government unions wanted benefits over pay for a reason
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u/reportmyphotos 8h ago
I often avoid taking this topic on here. Corporations don't care as much as governments for the tax deficit it's creating, which in turn boosts government funding and allows for things such as unionized laborers to negotiate better contracts. The "millionaire, billionaire" class can sell and move on somewhere more profitable and say they can lower expenses to meet C-suite "keeping up with the Jones's" and they can also use that excuse for sweeping layoffs. Metro areas, before WFH, took a large chunk of tax burden off of suburbs and that extended out to exurbs and rural. The taxes will eventually reach those areas because the spending is creating a donut effect. So, hypothetically, those now more desired areas become what people avoided the city for in the future. It's interesting but the mandate for return to office is often misunderstood, it is also not often explained clearly. I have to imagine that is because we haven't been here before economically.
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u/MaineLark 9h ago
My company made us all come back to office but there aren’t enough conference rooms so we have zoom meetings anyway, all while sitting in the same room together so I get to hear everything twice. Makes my blood boil
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u/Deathblow92 8h ago
Mine just got the warning shot, we are supposed to return in February. Half of my team is out of state and do not need to come in. So I will get to be in office, on Teams calls all day because I live too close to the stupid fucking office.
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u/graphic-dead-sign 9h ago
It’s more about getting us to spend money and to justify renting office spaces. California had a website that tracked work from home productivity; website was removed prior to announcing return to office because the data doesn’t support the argument that productivity will improve with return to office.
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u/Ok-Association-3415 9h ago
This absolutely the case. Now pare that with why we bail out PGE or other for profit utilities and it’s because the state pension are heavily invested in them. It’s gross how much private enterprise has grown its tentacles into mundane things that keeps the status quo going.
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u/Arkham8 9h ago
What sucks is that I got RTO’d a while back and while the majority of employees loved WFH, there’s always a small amount that were either fucking useless working from home or simply prefer being in an office. And it only takes one example for the decision makers to justify this bullshit. Not that it would stop them if there were no examples, I suppose.
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u/SemenSnickerdoodle 8h ago
It's funny too because from my experience as a california state worker being RTO'd, the one or two actual lazy people in our department don't do much better in office.
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u/FullMetalAlcoholic66 7h ago
You're missing the one reason, the grift. Think about the things you're forced to purchase when commuting. You have to buy gas. The only place to eat is the bland restaurant in the lobby that no one really likes and would go out of business without captured customers. There's the "professional" clothes you wear just for the office that you'd never rock in a normal situation. And there's the commercial real estate. And from the government's perspective, there's the taxes generated by commercial office buildings. Curious though, this would help the government save money by allowing the existing space to be repurposed.
However the main driver behind the RTO mandate is class warfare. During the peak of remote work peak, employees were getting the upper hand in pay and more generally across the board. This is just the elite re-establishing that status quo between employee-employer for their benefit.
Also, I think that a lot of corps want to crush your soul a bit. Being able to exercise, be around your family, friends pets, etc., managing your own time instead of a strict 9-5, being able to take interviews, doctor's appointments, court cases, etc. without taking PTO , etc makes employees too uppity, happy, and knowledgeable about their own self-worth.
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u/CrustyKielbasa 9h ago
Or from a lame duck governor who is in the pockets of downtown corporate landlords
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u/shoulda-known-better 8h ago
It's the real estate they are locked into 5 or 10 yr leases on.....
And then yes micro management
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u/NumerousVisit4453 7h ago
This is the first strike in the history of a union that represents over 100,000 California state workers who work hard every day for Californians.
96.2% of SEIU 1000 union members voted to strike in response to the state of California’s bad-faith bargaining and refusal to give employees a fair contract.
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u/splasia 9h ago
Godspeed. I’m shocked (not that shocked) that Newsom vetoed the bill giving RTO discretion to supervisors. We all have to deal with traffic from state workers. They pay more in child care, they have a larger climate impact, we lose workers with disabilities who can’t get a remote work accommodation, and we ultimately have to pay more to retain good workers. It sucks all the way around!
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u/endlesscartwheels 7h ago
I really hope there's a better choice in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary than Gavin Newsom.
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u/thebigkevdogg 7h ago
And I'll never vote for him in the primary for exactly this reason.
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u/Magikarpical 5h ago
also as a tax payer, wfh would be a cost savings for the state. shouldn't the state be interested in cost savings, especially since we have a billion dollar budget deficit? lol
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u/TherionSaysWhat 2h ago
This is my main reason as a union member to strike. The blind, universal RTO mandate is costing all of us $225 million a year. source CalMatters.org
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u/skankenstein 9h ago edited 9h ago
Hold the line! Downtown Sacramento’s success should not be dependent on state workers. Maybe focus on the developers sitting on vacant properties, rising costs of rent/goods, cleanliness, and safety. It also should not cost me $12 to park at a meter to watch a movie at the Crest. If downtown is struggling, it’s not because of the state workers remote status. They took away our mall and gave us DOCO. I went from being downtown every weekend to never going to downtown when they closed the mall and built an arena.
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u/Born-Sun-2502 7h ago
Business is down since this order. Gavin is dumb. So is McCarty.
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u/Bob-Bhlabla-esq 9h ago
My husband is with the county and they don't even have enough office space in the building for everyone, but they're making them go back to the office! My husband even gets more done at home because there aren't constantly other employees dropping by to shoot the shit or ask about a problem or opinion that isn't in his wheelhouse.m, or feeling the need to be polite and socialize - plus not needing to waste gas, money and time stuck in commute both ways.
I'm liberal, but FUCK YOU Jackie Speier for pushing for workers to go back! The county was paying for less office space, workers were more productive and it was sooooo much easier on families with kids and skipping traffic etc. Fuck you in your high paying position - I'm suuuure she's in the office 40 hours a week! Suuure.
The higher ups just didn't like the optics. It's some old school mentality bullshit.
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u/CaptainPunisher 8h ago
I'm a county worker and one of a select few that is fully remote (excepting occasional in person meetings). There's no real reason my team needs to be there physically, and our last department director (who is now higher in the county) told us that she would see to it that or team remains remote.
We get our stuff done. We help other people. We don't require extra rent and utilities. Hell, we don't even get a stipend to help pay for our home office bills, and we're just fine with that because we save money on gas, office clothes, lunch, and other incidentals. Governments could likely save so much more money by reducing in-office staff with remote work.
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u/Comfortable-Meeper 8h ago
Happened to my WFH lol. A coworker and myself were working in what was essentially an entry room at a county office for a few weeks.
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u/Negativefalsehoods 8h ago
And, destined to fail. However, Newsome is screwing himself over by insisting.
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u/Negativefalsehoods 8h ago
Newsome is a piece of shit doing the bidding of his corporate masters who want RTO normalized again. He is a fucking Democrat and needs to start acting like one and stop dancing for the oligarchy.
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u/Longjumping-Code2164 9h ago
Gavin will never be president
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u/SAugsburger 9h ago
I suspect he is trying to seem less liberal to run for President, but I don't think most people that think remote work is a political issue would ever vote for Newsom. He is just giving organized labor another reason to support a different candidate in 2028.
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u/Joessandwich 9h ago
He absolutely took a sudden rightward shift on certain issues in the last two years and it’s been obvious he’s trying to present himself more broadly to the country. But he’s gone about it in such a terrible way and on such odd issues. He’s made himself a die hard liberal for years, trying to suddenly change that isn’t going to work and now he’s pissing off the very voters that would have supported him. It’s ridiculous.
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u/SAugsburger 9h ago
That's my suspicion as well. Having a fairly liberal record for decades it is going to be hard for voters to ignore Newsom simply turning right in a couple oddball issues. RTO for public workers is a pretty niche issue afaik and most I have heard were so far right that it seems unlikely that Newsom would ever get their vote. I don't think it will completely kill Newsom's support from organized labor, but I'm sure more liberal candidates in the 2028 primaries will use this to argue for a specific union to endorse them over Newsom.
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u/prospectre 8h ago
This whole debacle is not just about RTO; It's about the entire state workers' contract. We have been without a new global contract since July, mostly due to the Newsom administration outright refusing to come to the bargaining table. No counter proposal, no suggestions, just flat out "No". All the while our union reps have been stonewalled, stood up, ignored, and had numerous delays from CalHR.
All this AFTER state workers had their already promised pay bump delayed to shore up the budget. I certainly won't be voting for him in the primaries.
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u/korben2600 8h ago
Same strategy the DC consultancy class drew up for Kamala. Do we keep our strategy of calling our opponents weird that's working and extremely popular with our base? No, let's stop doing that, campaign with Liz Cheney, and try to appeal to neocons. The Baileys will win us this one for sure this time.
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u/Joessandwich 7h ago
Yuuup. It’s insane that they keep trying this strategy, it’s not the 90s anymore. And even more insane that these strategists keep getting hired. Calling them weird is literally what put Tim Walz on the national map and they decided that what was working needed to stop. Insanity.
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u/techie998 8h ago
I.e., the "republican light" strategy that lost to Trump twice. Republicans will never vote for him no matter what, Independents split, and the Democratic base is taken for granted and enthusiasm is non-existing.
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u/chicklette 9h ago
I would never vote for him for Pres. He's shown himself to be utterly craven in his pursuit of power.
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u/Phytor 8h ago
If the ballot is him or more of this republican insanity, you're a fucking moron if you don't vote for him
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u/chicklette 8h ago
Well luckily, we have primaries so he won't make it that far. I've never not voted for a dem for president, but goddamnit I am tired to holding my nose to vote the lesser of the two evils.
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u/ApolloGR3 9h ago
This is all a ploy because commercial real estate props up so much of the economy. That’s literally all this is. Corporate greed.
Why would that matter to a government entity? Because they have the same problem the corps do: if everyone else’s people also work from home, who do you sell or rent your buildings to?
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u/Xohhellox 8h ago
America giving up work from home might be the biggest fumble i have ever witnessed.
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u/PiccoloAwkward465 3h ago
I've made it a habit to reply to emails from recruiters saying "oh I was interested but then I saw the position is in-office / on-site. I'm only seeking remote positions." And maybe a "is there an additional stipend for added expenses from the on-site requirement?"
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u/Gollum_Quotes 7h ago
Gavin Newsom ended telework because his son got indoctrinated online by the alt-right, and then he and his wife got freaked out about it and believed society becoming less in-personal was harming people.
So because he didn't spend time with his 13 year old son, grown adults with careers and families have to pay the price for his personal life problems and savior complex to save society.
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u/BrainaIleakage 7h ago
That’s an interesting theory. It seems to me like he’s actually been indoctrinated by the right, possibly via his son. I remember him talking a while back about how he wanted to DOGE CA state workers in part because he saw people — including his son — cheering on the federal level cuts.
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u/Numerous-Bowler-8677 7h ago
Newsom got bribed by businesses that want people to RTO so they can get foot traffic.
He wants to show a prosperous downtown so he can run for president.
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u/Bethjam 9h ago
1st ever strike for SEIU1000! MAGAvin has sold out state workers to his corporate real estate donors and balanced the budget on the backs of state workers for years. It is well past time they took a stand 💜💜💜
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u/NumerousVisit4453 6h ago
It’s amazing to see working people take a stand for fair working conditions 👏👏👏
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u/Procean 7h ago
It's not like, say, Los Angeles has a major traffic problem that would be eased by having as many people Work from Home as humanly possible.
Mandating people come to the office in a place like that would be absurd, no one would do that. /s
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u/TastySpermDispenser7 9h ago
Rto is a policy that cuts the after-tax pay of state workers, punishes every California citizen with additional traffic, risk, and environmental degradation and brings zero benefit whatsoever to citizens.
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u/Mimical 6h ago
That's entirely not totally true and very misleading.
By forcing everyone to RTO your boss can walk around with a hard on every day knowing they got to power trip over the lady who has worked 30 years in the org while staring at the new interns ass.
It's very important that we capture the details of the return to the office.
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u/Ricelyfe 8h ago
It’s over the Governors office refusing to negotiate. RTO, pay and healthcare were some of the major issues on the table for the contract but that is not why the strike ultimately took place. Newsom straight up won’t come to the table.
our pay was effectively cut last year and we were on the verge of not having a contract then. So while the state has had record tax revenue, the governor’s office decided to blow it on pet projects and outright refused to address the concerns of state workers and the union.
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u/PetrockX 9h ago
Newsom is a candidate the Democratic party will attempt to put forth for the 2028 election. He's just Republican lite.
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u/Chewbubbles 9h ago
I'll never buy the argument WFH is detrimental to most businesses.
When I was able to WFH the only thing I ever cared about missing was if I wanted something done immediately, I could do it because I could bypass everyone else in the chain and do it myself. But that's literally it.
Everything else is a waste of everyone's time. Most office workers are never truly working a full 8. The commute back and forth is time and money consuming. Plus the amount of things one can get done for both home and work is so insane that weekends during WFH for me actually felt like mini vacations since I could do whatever I wanted.
My wife continues to work from home and she's absolutely stress free pretty much all the time.
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u/Living-Record-4711 7h ago
Newsom is concerned with numbers for his presidential run, and accumulating PTO/sick hours is bad on the balance sheet because it’s a liability. Workers can accumulate about 760 hours before being required to use some up, and with telework employees can work while sick and save the hours up. Not gonna be possible anymore with the RTO exec order.
There’s a lot of workers who have been working 10 or 20+ years with that much leave accumulated, I know of at least 5 in my office who currently do. Many are choosing to retire instead of put up with the RTO BS, and taking months of leave prior to separation.
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u/Meleagros 6h ago
We're just going to back to going into work sick to save our time off. Yay
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u/elciano1 6h ago
100% this. Its a control issue. These companies cannot prove production is down when people work from home. In fact, people do more work because they can break up the time due to no commuting etc. I WFH and have been for 7 years now. Its the best thing ever. Stress free, no commute unless I am visiting clients and I dont have to stare at people in an office for 8 hours. I can do my job in a relaxing environment.
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u/TheDailySpank 8h ago
It's entirely to help prop up the failing businesses in downtown Sacramento.
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u/LordMitchimus 8h ago
I work for the City of Santa Monica and that's one of the justifications for a recent push to come back to the office by City Management.
Sometimes I use my lunch to pick up an online order at Uniqlo or Barnes and Noble. That's the extent of "local" money I'm spending while working. Who the hell can afford to eat at a local restaurant every day?
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u/LumberBitch 8h ago
If anything with wfh and cost savings from commuting I'd imagine that'd help local restaurants from people having a little more disposable income. It just shifts where people might eat out. But yeah I feel you, I don't go to restaurants anymore at all
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u/Negativefalsehoods 8h ago
Jokes on them...no one has any money to buy things in downtown while working.
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u/StarDatAssinum 8h ago
More like propping up the people/companies that own the real estate that those failing businesses are renting in
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u/Dhiox 8h ago
So much for free market capitalism. Its like it only exists when the worker gets screwed
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u/painlesspain 9h ago
Yeah I don’t buy it either. My whole office has been work from home for the past 10 years. They’re never bringing us back. There’s 80 of us in our department. They long ago realized it was cheaper and just as efficient to have us WFH rather than have office space for 80 people who just work on computers all day.
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u/Master_Editor_9575 8h ago
We were the same until our entire c suite turned over. All it takes is one bad leader and some apathy from the others and it can all be ruined.
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u/theknyte 8h ago
Plus, they not only save on office space real estate, but also on utility costs. Don't need to pay the electricity to run 80+ PCs 40 hours a week and the HVAC needed to deal with all the heat they produce. May not sound like much, but that savings on kWh will quickly add up over time.
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u/0bsessions324 7h ago
I was full time WFH for a full 6 years prior to COVID. Something like 70% of the company was full time remote because it was just cheaper and people were more productive when they didn't waste a couple of hours in traffic five days a week to go sit at a computer.
Our clients were all full-time in office, but they managed just fine transitioning to virtual when the pandemic hit.
Damn near any office job can be full time remote.
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u/Enchelion 7h ago edited 2h ago
My small team is spread across four states now. Thankfully my bosses up the chain know that we can't pay as well as we should so offering things like WFH are some of our only competitive advantages so they're firmly protected.
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u/2020IsANightmare 2h ago
Because there is no argument for most businesses.
Now, sure, some jobs most be in person.
If I need surgery, I don't really want a doctor calling me and telling me what to do.
A virtual waiter wouldn't make much sense at a restaurant.
But, yeah. Almost any office job?
Please.
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u/Pisces93 8h ago
The money spent commuting and being outside the home is the reason RTO is being pushed. Too many industries losing money because of WFH
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u/Jesuismieux412 5h ago
Sounds like a few industries should pick up their bootstraps and adapt. I mean, that’s what they’ve been telling us for years, right? Everyone is a capitalist right up until labor has the upper hand.
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u/windsockglue 7h ago
I mean, I think they are losing money because of different and much bigger issues, but let's just blame it on WFH and pretend it will all fix itself when people go back to the office. Meanwhile we have record high gasoline prices in some places and an energy secretary that told us to drive less to lessen the impact of gasoline costs. When people just have to dump all their money into gasoline to commute and there's high inflation and high tariffs, I can't imagine why people aren't spending money on other things! It's a mystery no one can solve except for Scooby Doo and his gang!
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u/Intrinsic_Idiot_3076 8h ago
Restaurants, cleaning companies (office building maintenance), office building constructions, transit companies would hurt the most.
Grocery stores would benefit as more people buy food and prep at home.
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u/TheLuminary 7h ago
Restaurants in the commercial areas might hurt. But the restaurants in the residential areas will not hurt, and may actually boom.
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u/BigBanggBaby 6h ago
Another benefit of multi-use neighborhoods, dining close to home. But there are many people out there who think it’s totally normal or preferable to live in a wasteland of cheap, beige, overpriced homes where it’s a 20 minute drive to a strip mall for Chick-fil-a and 30 minute drive to a decent restaurant or the office. What a waste of everybody’s time.
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u/LilStrug 8h ago
Hmm, should we never create cures for diseases because of the industry built up to treat the symptoms?
I did the math, my WFH saves my employer over $30k per year. Multiply that be 400 US employees and figure in cost of rent for four office buildings in major cities. That amount is more than the company’s quarterly loss.
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u/Tsunami-Dog 8h ago
Would argue construction companies would not be affected. The same company or another in the same vertical could be hired to do TI work to convert existing to different use cases.
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u/No_Growth6200 4h ago
In California, during WFH, state workers could live further from the office and spend extra money in their own small towns. Now they send us to Sacramento to fix that downtown but don't give any raises so we don't have extra money to spend down there. Now downtown sac and the small towns get anything nothing.
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u/ColdHardPocketChange 8h ago
Worth mentioning that people not on the road prevents the roads from breaking down and significantly reduces what becomes unnecessary pollution.
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u/Bleezy79 8h ago
There really is nothing as powerful as workers united when it comes to standing up to government or companies. In fact, its probably the quickest way to get results in this society.
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u/Frontier_Espresso 9h ago
Corporate America in the past few years: "We need everyone to return to the office to ensure optimal levels of productivity in office."
Also Corporate America: "Unfortunately, after careful consideration we have terminated your position and replacing it with Artificial Intelligence (AI literally works remotely)."
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u/aegee14 8h ago
My friend needs to go into work, no more WFH. His job entails him to have video meetings with colleagues from 4 other countries and from 2 other stateside sites. He has no idea why he has to be in the office to do these video meetings rather than at home. But, that’s what corporate says.
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u/IndividualTension887 7h ago edited 2h ago
Every teacher in California should walk out for the same reasons. Imagine paying $900 a month out of pocket for healthcare and making 35% under what people of the same education level do... And that's in California, where teachers are supposedly making more money than the rest of the country... Most can't even qualify for a home in the communities they teach in... why, because they dont make enough... oh and they have student loans to pay back too!
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u/doyouthinkwecanfly 9h ago
Good. RTO is just another way the rich steal from the masses.
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u/Popular-Berry-7151 9h ago
That's dumb.if ppl can get their work done from home and save on gas n lunches then why not?
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u/meltedchocolatepants 9h ago
Because the commercial real estate prices and local businesses around those work areas need to be propped up
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u/Resident-Yam4911 9h ago
It's not the government's job to force people to travel and spend money on lunch, parking and gas. It's really to pay rent on building of his buddies.
My wife is a state working doing disability claims. The public doesn't know where her office is located. (incase people that get denied want to retaliate) 100% is through phone and email. There's zero reason to go in
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u/meltedchocolatepants 8h ago
You're not arguing with me, you're arguing with the government. I completely agree. I'm just saying this is why they do it.
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u/resisting_a_rest 8h ago
Also, many businesses have a deal with the local government to get tax breaks as long as they have X amount of people coming to the town every weekday to work so that the town is more desirable to local retail businesses.
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u/spokomptonjdub 8h ago
I think there's a valid point about local businesses -- vacant buildings in a downtown area is generally not a good thing -- but it's a complete lack of creativity and/or political will to find other solutions besides "everyone has to go back to the office." Increase affordable housing supply in and near downtown centers, heavily invest in effective public transport, cut down on traditional working hours, and lots of other ideas are out there and could solve the issue of downtown areas becoming desolate and destroying local businesses.
But as for the commercial real estate holders... It remains baffling to me that if you or I make an investment that falls through because of changing economic conditions, we just have to eat it. Too bad! But if you own commercial property, suddenly your downturn in revenue becomes everyone else's problem and we need to rearrange society to make sure you never fail. Pretty fucked up!
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u/daniboo94 8h ago
Because his real estate donors for his presidential run want them back in office. Along with CA’s Lieutenant Governor who’s family owns a bunch of real estate in the sacramento area.
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u/amioth 8h ago
Fewer people driving means fewer people speeding or parking illegally, which means less revenue for the cops and cities also.
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u/Maharog 9h ago
RTO benefits middle management who need to justify their job. Thats it.
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u/SemenSnickerdoodle 8h ago
I'm a California state worker. I was told by someone at my office who's been working there 20+ years that the lease for our office building costs about $20 million annually. The office is a smaller 4 story building with about 5 or so state agencies there, and the building is extremely old with worn out carpets and office equipment from the Neolithic era.
The craziest thing to me is that recently all of the big wigs at my department recently got multiple Humanscale monitor arms costing about $400 a piece. Meanwhile us rank and file employees are stuck with extremely old office chairs and monitors from the early 2010s. I love to see that my state taxes are being used for useless shit like this.
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u/tschawartz12 8h ago edited 7h ago
It benefits the owners of the building to keep the rents and values artificially high. The rich would support it if they didn't have investment in the office space because then they would pull the "saving you money pay you less card " once they dump their assets in office real-estate and some one else is holding the bag their tone will change. Watch, once they are out work from home will be listed as a perk for lower pay.
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u/dontKair 8h ago
It benefits people who don't have social lives outside work, and/or want to get away from their family at home. Those folks are mostly mid and upper executives
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u/Illustrious-Gas-9766 7h ago
Gavin Newsom should delay any back to office mandate until fuel prices are reasonable. He should start with at least a year.
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u/jeep-olllllo 7h ago
I can tell you that in the case of my wife's job, her productivity at home is about 40 percent better than at the office. Look at all the water cooler talk and BS that happens in a typical office setting. At home, my wife doesn't get bothered and she can just churn out work.
It also acts as a pay cut as well due to travel costs and parking.
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u/Kaidinah 2h ago
I just want to point out that the strike is about more than RTO. Pay and healthcare are more important for a majority of those striking.
The state government refused to negotiate with us for 2 months. During bargaining we high-balled by requesting a 20% raise over 3 years. The state did not respond with a lowball. They instead waited until hours before the bargaining deadline (months later) and counter offered 0% over 3 years.
We do want to end RTO for those that don't need it though because it saves the state money. This is something all taxpayers should want.
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u/evantide2 1h ago
LA county also refused to negotiate with their workers for a full year before the SEIU strike made management come to the table.
Looks like this is a repeat of the same shit offers they gave LA on the state level. LA also wanted to do 0% for 3 years, no pay increases, and no healthcare funds increase.
Even after the negotiations ended and contract settled here, management is still pushing an RTO mandate. Hopefully whatever you all get at the state trickles down to us.
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u/sputtertots 7h ago
A consumer strike would be nice too. Even just one day, buy nothing.
Anyway good luck to them over there.
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u/Ok-Iron-7115 7h ago
Maybe they should provide free transportation to the office and childcare on site.
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u/MobilePenguins 8h ago
Companies and especially start ups will have a huge competitive advantage in hiring the best and most skilled employees if they can let them WFH while still managing time waste and efficiency. Idk what the answer is but not having a commute or being able to care for your own kids at home is a huge reason to pick one employer over another.
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u/PM-Me_Your_Penis_Pls 8h ago
How tf has American protesting gotten this fucking stupid!? YOU DONT SET AN END DATE. CERTAINLY NOT ONE DAY, YOU HOLD THE LINE FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES.
Fine. I'm cool. Its cool. I'm fine.
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u/Mission_Wolf579 8h ago
SEIU 1000 represented employee here. It's not one and done. This one day strike is the beginning.
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u/Bgrngod 8h ago
This is a "free sample" of what can come next.
They are not simply giving up after a day.
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u/Fake-Chef 6h ago
CA state union member here. By American protesting standards this is pretty good, and we’ve got to start somewhere. I initially thought like you, but after seeing the turnout and response think this approach makes sense. CA state workers striking is a rarity, and most people haven’t done it before, including me. We don’t get paid for this day either and that’s difficult, especially for classifications that pay less. I feel like this is a warmup for longer strikes down the road as well as a warning shot. I don’t think Newsom budges this year, but I do think once Becerra is in he thinks twice before upsetting the unions at the beginning of his tenure.
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u/TheTerribleInvestor 5h ago
Thats just the surface level act.
I always wondered what the point of marches even were either. People go out on to the street to walk for a day and then think "what did that ultimately achieve"? Thinking on it longer is that is the first material threat, the fact that you can organize enough to get hundreds or thousands of people to gather at the same time to do one thing shows you actually have the ability to organize to do one thing. With more momentum it becomes a voting block and more organized action.
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u/occaisionallyimqwert 4h ago
The working class has historically fought against the business class, and to a greater extent, the federal government, since the Industrial Revolution. Between the 1900’s and 1940’s, the US army would literally mobilize to squash striking workers, alongside agencies like the pinkertons. Now, more than ever, the working class needs to band together. Maybe some day, one generation can wrestle control of the country away from corporate interest.
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u/tyuiopguyt 10h ago
What is the point of a one day strike?
Like, its not a walkoff. You warned people.
Why would this make anyone in power change their mind?
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u/IchTanze 10h ago
From SEIU Local 1000s strike website:
Why only a one-day strike? October 21 is our strike day, but it won’t be the last time we show the State our collective power. If the State continues to refuse to bargain fairly, we’re prepared to escalate and hold the line.
We also know that missing even one day of pay is a huge sacrifice for members who are already struggling, and we don’t take that lightly. We’re going to be strategic about how we use our collective power and what we ask of our members.
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u/CrustyKielbasa 9h ago
State worker here piggybacking off of this. Our University of CA system recently had three one-day strikes and got a great contract in response.
This is our unions first ever strike. It's not just about telework - we are only authorized to strike because Gavin Newsom's administration has negotiated in such bad faith. They waited until the day our contract expired to present us with a counter proposal of 0% pay increase over three years, no offset to ballooning health insurance costs, and a blanket return to office mandate. Essentially their counter was "nah fam" on all points.
We have been furloughed twice since COVID. Our purchasing power is lower now than it was in 2000. It's beyond time for this.
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u/PaxEthenica 9h ago
It's as much a shake off run as anything else; a stress test for the unions to see their own weak points, & to possibly shore them up if a longer strike is needed.
RTO is such a stupid, wasteful mandate as gas/energy prices are rising, the CDCs ability to track respiratory outbreaks has been kneecapped, & the winter months are coming. Office managers have every economic incentive this year to seal up their buildings to save money; people are going to get sick for Newsom's buddies.
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u/Celodurismo 9h ago
Lots of people don't wanna sign up for multiple days, or a week, or indefinite. They have bills to pay, fear being laid off, etc.
1 day is easier to sell, gets everybody on the same page, they see the turnout and see that they're in it together.
They can always go back and do 1 days again and again, or potentially work up to longer demonstrations.
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u/Pretty_Eater 9h ago
It will cause some kind of monetary cost to their respective organizations and having such a small number of days unstaffed makes it difficult to scab because scabs won't get anything done with just one day working.
I still agree though, it's not enough, and plus advertising how long the strike will be just gives whatever organization a chance to plan to minimize damage.
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u/dorkimoe 9h ago
My work is forcing us back soon too, they can't give any valid reason just the usual bullshit
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u/The1930s 4h ago
Work in general is very theatrical, ig the rich are getting tired of not having jesters
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u/SamuraiMike81 9h ago
There should be a return to office mandate for congress. Those fuckers barely show up and technically don't need to be alive to get paid, and don't have performance reports.