On Tuesday, 95,000 California nurses, teachers and other state workers voted overwhelmingly, 92 percent, to authorize a strike December 5th to protest what they describe as the state’s unlawful conduct and bad-faith bargaining.

Service Employees International Union Local 1000 Vice President Margarita Maldonado says that after seven months of bargaining the state has come to the table with a unilateral “take it or leave it” approach:
“They’ve bargained regressively. It’s absolutely. Also, they have had an illegal policy in the way that they threaten our members with discipline for participating in protected activity. Obviously the strike vote that we had signaled to us very overwhelmingly that the state respect the bargaining process, and that it’s our responsibility as a union to hold them accountable for this unlawful conduct. As we go and walk out on December 5th, we are going to be a united union.”

The state has proposed changes that would shift 20 million dollars of health care costs to the workers, and Maldonado says the Gender Pay Gap is another major issue:
“About 66 percent of the union is comprised of women, and yet we’re paid 19 percent less than the average for all rank-and-file state employees combined. It’s highly disappointing. The state has made deals with some of the other male-dominated state employee groups. It’s about 43 percent higher than than the pay of our members. It should be equal pay for equal work, and that is not the case for the State of California. The Gender Pay Gap is yet another issue that is not being dealt with at the bargaining table.”