‘Pay equity now’: California scientists march to Capitol, demanding new contract and raises
As the end of the legislative year approaches, the union representing California state scientists is putting extra pressure on CalHR and Gov. Gavin Newsom to give them a new contract.
Roughly 200 members of the California Association of Professional Scientists, known as CAPS, marched Wednesday afternoon from the Department of Human Resources headquarters on R Street to the Capitol’s west steps. The demonstrators sported green shirts and a number of printed and homemade signs that bore slogans such as “PAY EQUITY NOW” and “Value Science? Value Scientists!”
“State scientists showed up today. This is probably the biggest turnout we’ve ever had,” said Justin Garcia, CAPS secretary and a senior environmental scientist specialist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Union leaders said the turnout was at least double, if not triple, the amount of people who joined a similar rally at the Capitol last year.
The scientists are seeking raises of 30% to 40% to address what they say are longtime pay disparities within their unit and between their counterparts in engineering positions. State scientists oversee a wide variety of public duties, such as ensuring food safety, protecting air and water from pollution and stewarding the state’s natural resources.
The union, which represents roughly 5,300 rank-and-file and managerial level scientists in state government, argues that its members are performing similar work to the engineers yet receive significantly less pay. More than 50 legislators signed a letter asking Newsom and CalHR to reach a deal with the union.
CAPS leaders urged rally attendees to cast ballots in the strike authorization vote that the union announced on Tuesday. The strike vote, which closes at 8 a.m. on Friday, marks an escalation of a nearly three-year contract fight that saw scientists reject an offer from the state earlier this year.
Speakers at the Wednesday rally included prominent labor leaders such as state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles; Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood; and Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, the former assemblywoman who now leads the California Labor Federation.
“The Legislature and the Governor are so proud of the progressive values that we hold,” Gonzalez Fletcher told the crowd, “of making sure that California is at the forefront of environmental policy. But in reality, without any of you, none of that is possible.
“We can go and we can tout it on CNN or get in Twitter fights with the Florida governor and say, ‘We’re so much better.’ But if we’re not paying our scientists in California, are we really that much better?”
Cheers erupted from the crowd. Raffica La Rosa and Joanne Heraty both waved homemade signs in support. The two women work on the same team, as senior environmental scientist specialists with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. La Rosa’s sign read, “Scientists Count.”
Heraty said the rally “drew a lot of people out of the woodwork” and attracted people who hadn’t been to previous CAPS actions before. Eight out of nine members of Heraty and La Rosa’s team showed up to participate, they said.
Jacqueline Tkac, CAPS bargaining team chair, previously told The Sacramento Bee that a victory at the bargaining table looks like the state acknowledging the salary disparities and laying out a solution to fix them — nothing less.
“If we accept anything less than equal pay, who wins here?” Tkac said previously. “It’s up to us to stand up to the state until they provide equal pay for equal work.”
In order for the scientists to see raises in their checks before next January, the union and CalHR would need to reach a tentative agreement soon and submit it to the Legislature in time for lawmakers to review and ratify the contracts before they adjourn for the year on Sept. 14.
This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 5:00 AM.