More Than 2,000 Oakland City Workers Vote to Authorize Strike; Union Cites One-in-Five Vacant Jobs
Oakland is a city in Alameda County, California. SEIU Local 1021 announced on October 16 that the more than 2,000 City of Oakland workers it represents have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, empowering their bargaining team to call a walkout if it deems one necessary. In announcing the vote, the union cited pervasive understaffing across the city, with more than one in five budgeted positions unfilled; unfair bargaining practices during contract negotiations; and a number of city proposals it described as cuts to take-home pay, increased benefit costs and other takeaways.
Contracts for Oakland's city unions expired on June 30, 2026. Alongside SEIU Local 1021, the bargaining units include IFPTE Local 21, IBEW Local 1245 and the Confidential Management Employees Association, and the city has been in negotiations with the unions for months. Talks on the city side are led by unrepresented executive and confidential staff, and any final contract must be approved by the Oakland City Council, which has met in closed session multiple times to discuss the negotiations. The city has not publicly disclosed its bargaining positions, so most of what has been said publicly about them comes from union bulletins.
The city's finances form the backdrop to the standoff. According to Oakland Report, Oakland faces projected budget shortfalls of more than $100 million in each of the next five years. Last month, the city reached an agreement with the Oakland Police Officers' Association (OPOA) under which officers agreed to pay a 10% share of their Kaiser health premiums, previously paid in full by the city, and to pay a larger share into their pensions. SEIU's most recent contracts, by contrast, included no employee payments toward Kaiser premiums. The OPOA contract also contains a "me too" clause that would give officers the difference if other city unions win more favorable terms.
Before the vote, city unions held an informational picket outside Mayor Barbara Lee's State of the City speech, pressing demands that include filling vacant positions and converting some sworn police desk assignments to civilian jobs, and noting that city workers have gone 18 months without a cost-of-living adjustment. Lee told the picketing workers the city would keep working toward a fair contract. As of the October 16 announcement, SEIU had not announced a specific strike date. (GSM, based on the SEIU Local 1021 announcement and reporting by Oakland Report)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Oakland 市中心与 Lake Merritt 航拍。Photo: Aerial view of downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt. Dcoetzee / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
