Big CA union joins strike for Black lives + What affirmative action means in CA + Celebrating suffrage

Good morning. Welcome to a new week.

STRIKE FOR BLACK LIVES

California’s largest union, SEIU Local 2015, which represents 400,000 nursing home and home care workers, is joining a nationwide strike Monday to demand “fundamental changes of systemic racism in the workplace, economy and society,” according to a statement announcing the event.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the systemic racism in our society, including cracks in a health care system that disproportionately impacts people of color and those living in poverty. Across California, a number of actions will take place to raise the ongoing need for safe and equal working conditions,” according to the statement from the union. “The different priorities of the actions will call out leaders’ failures and demand conditions and opportunity to better protect workers, their families, and those they care for.”

Protests will take place throughout Northern California. In the Sacramento area, protesters will gather from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at SEIU Local 2015’s union hall at 681 W. Capitol Ave. Suite 100 in West Sacramento.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Via Matt Kristoffersen...

A ballot initiative that would reinstate affirmative action in California could change the makeup of who gets hired in schools, police departments and other government agencies around the state.

The initiative — known as Proposition 16 — passed the Legislature earlier this year and will show up on the November ballot.

Much of the debate over the initiative in the Legislature focused on education and ensuring that people of different backgrounds have an opportunity to succeed. Some of the highest profile tests of affirmative action in court recently also have centered on universities, such as a 2016 Supreme Court decision that allowed the University of Texas to continue considering ethnicity as a factor in admissions decisions.

If voters approve Proposition 16, advocates say California government agencies and schools also will be able to create recruiting and promotion programs targeted for women and ethnic groups who are underrepresented in public agencies.

Those polices were banned in California in 1996, when voters approved Proposition 209. The initiative said the state couldn’t “discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.”

California unions that represent public employees — including AFSCME, SEIU and the California Teachers Association — have endorsed the initiative to restore affirmative action.

Their leaders say affirmative action polices could help agencies provide paths to employment and higher-paying jobs for people who otherwise could be overlooked.

“It’s being intentional about recruiting into that series, perhaps creating training internally so we’re cross-training and moving women from lower-paid titles to higher-paid titles,” said Kathryn Lybarger, president of AFSCME 3299, a blue-collar union for University of California employees.

Despite efforts to broaden applicant pools, salary surveys by the California Department of Human Resources consistently show that men in state government earn more than women.

The better-paying jobs in state government — such as engineers, California Highway Patrol officers, firefighters and correctional officers — tend to be career tracks that have majorities of men. Women have gravitated to lower-paying fields in social services and government analysis.

In 2017, women in state government tended to earn 20.5% less than men. At the time, the Government Operations Agency estimated it would take 27 years to close the gap in average earnings.

We dug into the affirmative action policies California had on the books before Prop. 209. Some could return.

Read more here in the full story today.

CELEBRATION OF WOMEN

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and Joe Biden vice presidential short-lister, is set to speak at a virtual event honoring the centennial anniversary of American women’s right to vote.

Bass is the “spotlight speaker” for a panel called “Racial Justice and Equity.”

The event, held on Thursday beginning at 8:30 a.m., is sponsored by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, representing more than 340 Silicon Valley employers.

Bass, a former Assembly speaker, isn’t the only notable name in California politics to make an appearance.

Also speaking Thursday is First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, former First Lady Maria Shriver and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Menlo Park, among others.

More information about the event, including how to get tickets, can be found here.

Best of the Bee:

• New assignments for school employees are taking place all over California as schools prepare to reopen this fall with remote learning until the coronavirus outbreak subsides. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday released strict criteria for in-person classroom instruction, meaning kids won’t be on campus anytime soon in much of the state, via Mackenzie Hawkins.

• Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby is running for California state Senate, via Theresa Clift.

• Top California Democrats are asking lawmakers to consider pulling bills and limit policy hearings as they race to finish a 2020 legislative session that was disrupted twice by the coronavirus outbreak, according to a memo summarizing a recent call for lawmakers’ chiefs of staff. Hundreds of bills are awaiting votes, and the direction, if followed, could squeeze many of them out of consideration, via Hannah Wiley.