Newsom used telework as a bargaining chip. State worker unions see opportunity
Two months ago, state workers’ fight to maintain their ability to work remotely seemed doomed. Despite valiant efforts to resist Gov. Gavin Newsom’s four-day, in-office policy, the intended July 1 deadline loomed.
The dam broke after the state engineers union secured a delay. Within weeks, the entire executive order was suspended for a year as part of broader negotiations with all 21 of California’s bargaining units.
With this win over telework, an issue which unions previously had little leverage over, labor groups hope they can gain even more traction in future negotiations, to secure even stronger protections over when employees can work from home. On top of that, labor’s argument against requiring state employees to be in the office four days a week received a boost from the independent audit released last week.
“Now we actually have an audit that backs up what we have been saying,” said Susan Rodriguez, the chief negotiator for SEIU Local 1000. Auditors surveyed departments, many of which reported their employees were just as or more productive working from home, which Rodriguez said the union has been touting all along. Telework “saves money for the state so they can use it towards more meaningful programs,” she said.
While union leaders are feeling optimistic about the trajectory of telework negotiations, Michael Genest, a former finance director under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, warned that by using telework as a bargaining chip, Newsom has forever altered negotiations.
“It’s handing over some of the powers that belong to the government to the employees,” Genest said. “That weakens the ability of the governor to operate efficiently and effectively.”
Genest said recent negotiations around telework have granted unions more authority over the issue, which could hamper Newsom and future administrations’ ability to dictate the working conditions of their employees.
On the bargaining table
Since COVID-19 fundamentally shifted how both the state and its workers value telework, the topic of remote work has become a bigger piece of negotiations between California and its unions.
Further, the California Public Employment Relations Board has issued decisions in recent years determining work-from-home policies are mandatory subjects of bargaining, meaning labor representatives and the state are now required to negotiate the issue of telework.
California’s contracts with its public employees don’t provide unions with the ability to negotiate the number of days workers can telework, which less than half of the state’s more than 247,000 workers are eligible to do. Those agreements allow labor representatives to meet and confer with departments over the impact of changes made to telework agreements, but the authority of who can change the conditions lies with the Newsom administration.
This language is favorable to the state but unions are hoping to find more leeway in future bargaining sessions over the topic.
When the Newsom administration used telework as a bargaining chip in the most recent round of negotiations, some labor groups interpreted that as a major shift — one that served labor in its fight for better hybrid work protections moving forward.
“It is a huge development that we certainly hope to continue and be able to build upon in the future,” said Ted Toppin, the executive director of the Professional Engineers in California Government. “Obviously, that will depend on this administration and the future administrations being receptive to it.”
Tim Yeung, a public sector labor expert, said he didn’t think that Newsom’s recent return-to-office delay had altered the bargaining landscape.
Despite this, it’s clear that the ability to work from home is of value to union members, Yeung said, which suggests that labor representatives will attempt to secure better protections in future contracts. But he added that he expected the state would fight “tooth and nail” to keep the current telework language that is favorable to the administration.
“It will continue to be a bargaining chip CalHR will use,” Yeung said.
The use of telework as a negotiating tool could be useful to California, Genest said, because the state can use this in lieu of some amount of money for raises or some other employee benefit.
“The more things that you have on the table, the less value things already on the table have,” he said.
Using hybrid work as a bargaining chip next year, and likely into the future after California’s next governor assumes the role of state workers’ boss, comes with costs. Genest said by relinquishing control over this aspect of working conditions, the state is granting unions more authority over the issue and, Genest said, weakening management of state government.
Shifting the bargaining landscape
In a sign that the Newsom administration might be willing to offer government employees telework concessions moving forward, the union representing state scientists announced in a side letter last week it had secured more protections for remote work.
The California Association Professional Scientists, UAW Local 1115, secured language that recognizes workdays spent in the field as in-office days and requires departments to notify the union about changes to telework policies 60 days in advance -- double the length of time required in most other bargaining units’ contracts.
The Governor’s Office referred the Bee’s questions about future negotiations over telework to the California Department of Human Resources. Department spokesperson Camille Travis, said the governor is still committed to the four-day, in-office minimum.
“The one-year delay is a result of labor negotiations and gives us the opportunity to refine those plans and work with departments to ensure a smooth transition,” Travis said.
Alternatively, Jacqueline Tkac, the CAPS-UAW president, said the delay that her and other unions secured is the result of various state worker labor groups’ collective opposition to Newsom’s mandate. Between holding rallies, showing up to legislative hearings and maintaining pressure on the administration, Tkac said the state’s labor groups have shifted the landscape around this issue.
“There’s so much opportunity for us to improve our telework language and our fight for when we know the RTO mandate is coming again, or at least going to be attempted to come again,” Tkac said.
Audit offers unions another piece of evidence
Workers who resisted the return-to-office order and lawmakers also skeptical of the policy have both raised concerns about the potential cost of the governor’s mandate. They appealed to state leaders’ budget senses, by asking California to assess how the unused office space might be disposed of to save money.
The recent report from the California State Auditor estimated that the state could save $225 million annually if it was able to successfully offload empty government buildings — more than a third of the sum Newsom managed to recuperate from the state budget this summer through negotiated reductions to state worker costs.
But the Newsom administration has tried to discredit that estimate since the independent auditor published the report last week.
“This audit on state telework is not a scientific study, nor does it paint a complete picture of the state workforce or the benefits of working in person,” Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said in a statement last week.
The Governor’s Office has stated the audit’s findings are based on “hypothetical theories and incomplete information,” but did not respond to requests for additional evidence to support the administration’s disagreement with the report.
The State Auditor’s Office declined to comment, citing a media policy to “let the office’s published reports stand on their own without further comment.”
For California’s public employee unions, the audit helps build the case for the continuation of telework in state government.
“As more evidence like this becomes available, this governor and his administration will recognize the benefits of flexible telework and see that it serves all of the things that they are trying to accomplish, including the savings of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars,” Toppin said.
SEIU Local 1000 is preparing to bargain a new contract next year for the nearly 100,000 public employees it represents and Rodriguez said the union is asking the Legislature to take a greater role in oversight of the state’s telework policy to allow individual departments to set these policies, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. Since SEIU Local 1000 has been pushing the budget savings message around telework, the audit provides the union with some useful ammunition going into negotiations next year.
“No one is going to pass up using whatever is out there, documentation and reports and stuff, to help guide our discussions with the state,” she said.
Others were less optimistic about the audit swaying Newsom’s mind.
“My experience bargaining with the state is that more times than not, you can present all of the logic and all the reasoning for justifying why your demands are what they are,” Tkac said. But she said that “true power comes with collective action.”
