Follow-Up: Thousands Picket in Sacramento in SEIU Local 1000's First-Ever Strike: Union President Says Workers Are Prepared to Escalate
SACRAMENTO, California — In Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, SEIU Local 1000, which represents about 100,000 California state workers, carried out a one-day 'unfair practice' strike on October 21, the first strike in the union's history. GSM previously reported the strike plans and essential-worker arrangements; the on-the-ground picture from strike day is now clear.
According to Abridged, the PBS KVIE newsroom that covered the picket lines live, at least 300 union members and organizers gathered shortly after 7 a.m. near 7th and P streets downtown, many wearing purple and marching in picket circles near union sign-in tents as passing drivers honked in support. Union-published Sacramento picket sites also included the Secretary of State building, the May Lee Complex, DMV headquarters, the Natural Resources Agency building and the Department of Education headquarters; by about 11:20 a.m., roughly 400 people had gathered outside the Secretary of State building.
At midday, union President Anica Walls addressed a crowd of at least 1,000 outside the California Department of Human Resources, declaring it the first strike in the union's history and saying the union is prepared to escalate if the state continues to bargain in bad faith. In the afternoon, thousands of strikers marched to the Capitol Annex Swing Space and then to the Capitol lawn before dispersing as rain began.
Negotiations have been open since spring and the union's contract expired on June 30; California's labor board previously found the talks at an impasse and did not back the state's attempt to block the strike. The two sides are next scheduled to return to mediation on October 30. (GSM, based on Abridged (PBS KVIE) on-the-ground reporting and SEIU Local 1000's published picket schedule)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于萨克拉门托的加利福尼亚州议会大厦资料图。图片：经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The California State Capitol in Sacramento, file photo, via Wikimedia Commons.
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