California’s biggest state worker union challenges Gavin Newsom’s vaccine order
.JPG "Richard Louis Brown stands in front of at SEIU Local 1000 before his swearing in as president of the organization on June 27, 2021.")
The head of the largest union in California state government signaled on Wednesday that he intends to fight Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate that all state employees either provide proof of vaccination or else wear masks and submit to regular COVID-19 testing.
“Local 1000 Listens to You! Cease & Desist against GAVIN! Finally a REAL LABOR UNION fighting for ALL of its represented employees!” SEIU Local 1000 President Richard Louis Brown wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning.
Brown’s tweet included a copy of a letter his union sent to the California Department of Human Resources, also known as CalHR.
“This letter serves as a demand to meet and confer and as a formal objection to the implementation deadline until the meet and confer process is completed,” the letter reads in part.
CalHR gave state workers until Aug. 2 to verify their vaccination status.
Brown’s protest marks the first, and so far only, union objection to Newsom’s order.
Other state worker unions, including the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, signaled that they would support the order.
Glen Stailey, president of the corrections officers union, which represents 28,000 prison guards and parole agents, said in a statement that Gov. “Newsom’s new vaccine policy is a reasonable compromise that we can get behind. It provides for regular testing at work for those who have chosen not to get vaccinated — this will prevent the spread of the virus among correctional officers and incarcerated individuals alike.”
A little more than half, 52%, of the state’s 65,000 prison employees are fully vaccinated, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Newsom’s order also applies to private-sector health care workers. The cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach this week announced similar policies requiring their employees to show proof of vaccination or accept regular testing for COVID-19.
California employs about 246,000 people in state government departments. SEIU Local 1000 represents about 100,000 of them.
The letter from SEIU Local 1000 accused Newsom of dodging state legal obligations before implementing the new policy.
“This is a change in the terms and working conditions of our represented employees and requires meeting and conferring with the union prior to implementing the change,” the letter reads.
The letter demands that CalHR cease and desist from enforcing the requirement until the state meets with the union.
SEIU Local 1000 President Brown took office last month after unseating the union’s longtime leader, Yvonne Walker. Brown has criticized Newsom frequently, particularly over pay cuts the governor and Legislature demanded from state workers last year when the state anticipated a severe recession as the coronavirus pandemic spread.
Newsom earlier this week said the decision for state workers was well within his authority based on agreements negotiated by public sector unions.
“You look through the bargaining units, you look through the (memorandums of understanding), you look at the language, and there’s processes and protocols that are well-established, well in place. This is a requirement to either get vaccinated or to get tested once or two days a week,” Newsom said.
This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 10:28 AM with the headline "California’s biggest state worker union challenges Gavin Newsom’s vaccine order."