California state workers take first steps to strike over salary freeze proposal
In the latest signal that relations between state workers and their boss are getting tense, one public sector union created a strike fund to prepare for a fight over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to freeze employees’ salaries.
The union hopes the first step to potentially walk off the job sends a clear message to the governor and lawmakers.
“We’re really sick and tired of being asked to balance the governor’s budget,” said Aaron Cannon, the southern vice president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2620. “We shouldn’t be balancing the budget on the back of state workers.”
On Saturday, the executive board of AFSCME Local 2620 — a labor group that represents just under 5,000 healthcare and social service workers — unanimously approved the creation of a $1 million strike fund, which will be financed by the local’s budget.
The union leader said he hopes to communicate to members that the labor group is ready to fight over the budget proposal that aims to save $767 million by withholding salary increases previously ratified in bargaining agreements.
Newsom suggested the salary savings measure, along with pausing Medi-Cal enrollment for undocumented people and reductions to state university systems, to help plug California’s $12 billion deficit.
“Our message certainly is to Gov. Newsom, but more specifically to our legislators, because they ultimately are the ones who sign off on where those funds go,” Cannon said.
Union member at rally speaks out
“It felt like a punch in the stomach,” Maria Rodriguez, a senior vocational counselor with the Department of Rehabilitation, said of the governor’s proposal outside the Capitol Wednesday at a rally opposing the budget cuts.
Newsom’s salary freeze would be at the expense of AFSCME Local 2620 members, like herself, who serve some of the most vulnerable people in the state: those with disabilities and formerly incarcerated people reentering society, she said.
Rodriguez said it seems like the state has only offered the union “crumbs” at the bargaining table in the past.
“We need to start acting with urgency,” she said.
Given that the majority of AFSCME Local 2620 employees work in state hospitals and prisons, a strike would be seriously detrimental to California, Cannon said. As long as he’s been a member, since 2007, this was the first time Cannon is aware that the union has authorized such a step.
Legal restrictions to striking
But state workers can’t just walk off the job tomorrow.
Tim Yeung, a public sector labor law expert, said that state workers’ contracts include a no-strike provision that prevents work stoppages from occurring while those agreements are in effect. The salary increases that Newsom’s administration hopes to pause are also enshrined in those memorandums of understanding, he noted.
While both parties must abide by the contract, the Ralph C. Dills Act includes language that says either the administration or unions can reopen negotiations if the Legislature doesn’t agree to fully fund part of the agreement, such as pay increases.
But in order for a public union to legally strike, negotiations between the state and labor group need to reach an impasse, Yeung said.
He said that a strike by AFSCME Local 2620 may not serve the union’s interests because by walking off the job, and losing pay for doing so, would help the state save money on salary expenses.
Since the 1978 Dills Act became law, the only instance of public employees striking was in November 2023, when the union representing California scientists walked off the job after years of failed negotiations. The California Department of Human Resources filed an unfair practice charge against the union, arguing that bargaining had not reached an impasse when those workers went on strike.
The following year, the union and the state both agreed to a new contract and the dispute over the legality of the strike was dropped.
CalHR declined to comment on AFSCME Local 2620’s strike fund, citing the department’s policy of not commenting on collective bargaining.
Anica Walls, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1000, echoed Cannon’s opposition to Newsom’s proposals to use employee compensation as part of the budget solution but did not commit to striking with AFSCME Local 2620.
“SEIU Local 1000 is considering any and all legal options to protect the raises our members have already earned through bargaining,” Walls said in a statement.
This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM.
