California state workers are beginning a statewide strike, marking the first such action in 44 years. The walkout comes as workers accuse Gov. Gavin Newsom of balancing the state budget “on their backs.” The strike is led by SEIU Local 1000, the state government’s largest union, which previously supported Newsom with significant campaign contributions.
Local 1000 contributed $500,000 to Newsom’s 2018 campaign and an additional $1 million to help him fend off a recall in 2021. However, the union now accuses Newsom of bad-faith bargaining. Members of the union are trolling Newsom online with memes likening him to infamous Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and caricaturing him as a sci-fi villain.
Anica Walls, president of Local 1000, said, “The fact the state has refused to bargain in good faith is what got so many members active.” The union represents about 100,000 workers. Walls added, “They’re just kind of tired of always feeling the budget is balanced on state employees’ backs.” This sentiment dates back more than 20 years for some California public employees.
During the Great Recession, which lasted from 2008 to 2013 under former governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, many workers accepted furloughs and wage reductions. Brown later pressed for more concessions, including an additional paycheck deduction to fund retiree healthcare and higher worker contributions toward pensions.
Union leaders had high hopes Newsom would end the trend of temporary pay cuts and givebacks, as shown by the campaign contributions he gained in 2018. However, Newsom demanded wage reductions from state workers over three years of his tenure and limited raises to 3% in financially flush times. He also took a hard line in calling employees back to the office four days a week after many grew accustomed to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
California state government spending surged during the Newsom administration, climbing from $201.4 billion in the 2018-19 financial year to $321 billion in Newsom’s 2025-26 budget. That’s a 59% increase. Payroll is up, too, but at a slower rate. Compensation for state workers hit $25.2 billion in 2025, about 32% more than 2019.
Newsom gave bonuses to many public employees – especially prison staff – when the state was flush with money just after the pandemic. However, he has been thriftier with wage increases, which topped out at 3% in most contracts. Newsom at two key moments pressed public employees to accept pay cuts. The first happened in the panic of the early pandemic when the governor braced for a severe recession. Unions agreed to wage cuts of roughly 9% and in exchange workers received days off that they could save and bank for later.
The second wage cut happened in 2025 when the governor sought to close a severe budget deficit. Most unions, including Local 1000, again accepted deals for two years of wage reductions in exchange for days off. They also agreed to defer raises until next year. One union did not accept those terms, the California Association of Professional Scientists. The scientist union was the first to strike against Newsom, holding a three-day walkout in 2023. It viewed the contract it negotiated in 2024 as critical, and it didn’t want to give up those terms.
