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Topline:
Tens of thousands of state government workers are expected to walk off the job Wednesday in a one-day strike that could affect services at the DMV, unemployment offices and more.
Why now: Members of SEIU Local 1000 are protesting what they argue are bad-faith bargaining practices by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. The union has been negotiating a new labor agreement since its latest three-year contract expired on June 30, and the strike would be Local 1000’s first statewide walkout in its 44-year history.
Why it matters: The union represents about 100,000 public workers, with members employed in dozens of agencies across California. They’re accountants, government analysts, nurses, IT workers, custodians and more. Local 1000 could call off the work stoppage at any time leading up to Wednesday.
Read on... for more on what this means for the DMV, EDD, parks and more.
Tens of thousands of state government workers are expected to walk off the job Wednesday in a one-day strike that could affect services at the DMV, unemployment offices and more.
Members of SEIU Local 1000 are protesting what they argue are bad-faith bargaining practices by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. The union has been negotiating a new labor agreement since its latest three-year contract expired on June 30, and the strike would be Local 1000’s first statewide walkout in its 44-year history.
The union represents about 100,000 public workers, with members employed in dozens of agencies across California. They’re accountants, government analysts, nurses, IT workers, custodians and more.
Local 1000 could call off the work stoppage at any time leading up to Wednesday. But if it happens, here’s how the strike could affect you.
Yes, you can, but services could be delayed depending on who is participating in the strike. DMV offices might close early, too, a department spokesperson said. The same holds for other public-facing services, including unemployment benefits at the Employment Development Department and food assistance at CalFresh.
State parks could be affected, too, even though rangers are not represented by Local 1000. Hearst Castle in San Luis Obispo County, for instance, adjusted its tour schedule to accommodate people who’ve already reserved spots to see the newspaper magnate’s estate.
This may not be ideal from a customer service standpoint, but union president Anica Walls urges Californians “to give our employees some grace.”
“If you happen to go to the DMV office and the services are limited, make an appointment for another day,” Walls said. “Realize that we are standing up for 100,000 state workers who have not had a good living wage. … It’s not just about state employees. It really is about the working class.”
Local 1000 represents almost half of the state’s workforce, and 95,000 workers would be able to participate in the strike. The remaining 5,000 workers are legally excluded from the strike, because their absence “would create an imminent and substantial threat to public health or safety,” according to the union. In general, they work in healthcare or public safety.
Eight state agencies and divisions employ workers who are deemed essential. These include workers such as veterans homes nurses, cooks at state prisons, Caltrans dispatchers and others:
To see which employees at which worksites are deemed essential, check out this list.
Many state workers are frustrated with Newsom, who has demanded wage cuts to help balance the budget in three of the eight years he’s led the state. These cuts essentially negated the last 3% salary increase he gave Local 1000 members.
Pointing to a $20 billion increase in general fund spending over the past two years, the union wants better pay and more affordable healthcare coverage than the administration has offered. It also wants more flexibility to work from home, pushing back against the governor’s return-to-office mandate for state workers.
But talks have been contentious. In July, the union filed a complaint with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, accusing CalHR, the state agency that handles labor negotiations, of delaying negotiations and rejecting proposals outright. Last month the labor board sided with the union and concluded that CalHR “refused to meet and confer in good faith.”
Earlier this month, union members authorized the strike. Local 1000 members will hold demonstrations in more than a dozen cities, including Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento, where members will also hold a march to lawmakers’ offices near the Capitol.
In response to the labor board’s findings, Angela Musallam, CalHR’s deputy director of communications, said in an email to CalMatters that “the state has been and remains open to negotiation” She added that the state “is prepared to move into mediation to assist the parties in reaching an agreement.”
CalHR also filed an unfair practice complaint of its own to the board in an effort to stop the strike. CalHR claimed that the strike was unlawful because the union did not initially identify which essential workers would be excluded from the walkout. The union disagreed with CalHR’s interpretation of events, arguing that it did identify these employees. The board sided with the union last week, rejecting CalHR’s request for an injunction.
Both parties are scheduled to meet for mediation talks on Oct. 30. For now the union is planning to only strike on Wednesday, but Walls said that if the Newsom administration continues to engage in bad-faith bargaining, the union will “escalate” its actions. This could include filing another complaint with the labor board, and potentially holding another strike.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
Topline:
An employee of L.A. County’s Office of Emergency Management has sued his employer, alleging he was retaliated against for making whistleblower complaints about the response to the deadly Eaton Fire.
Why it matters: Nicholas Vaquero, an associate director in the Office of Emergency Management, alleges that officials leading the county office failed to properly staff the response to the fire, that the county’s emergency alerts were inadequate and that it submitted fraudulent data in order to receive FEMA reimbursement.
The background: LAist previously reported on the whistleblower complaint, which contained the allegation that a key county employee was asleep on the job during the first night of the Eaton Fire.
The county's response: A spokesperson said the county would respond to the lawsuit in court.
Read on ... for more details on the lawsuit filed earlier this month.
An employee of Los Angeles County’s Office of Emergency Management has sued his employer, alleging he was retaliated against for making whistleblower complaints about the response to the deadly Eaton Fire.
Nicholas Vaquero, an associate director in the Office of Emergency Management, alleges that officials leading the office failed to properly staff the response to the fire, which killed at least 19 people and burned thousands of homes and businesses in January 2025.
He also alleges the county’s emergency alerts were inadequate and that it submitted fraudulent data in order to receive FEMA reimbursement. Vaquero says in the suit that he used official county whistleblower channels to raise his concerns, in addition to speaking to OEM’s top two officials, Director Kevin McGowan and Deputy Director Leslie Luke.
Vaquero’s lawyers and the county declined to comment on the substance of the lawsuit. “L.A. County is going to address the allegations in court,” spokesperson Elizabeth Marcellino wrote in a statement to LAist.
LAist previously reported on Vaquero’s whistleblower complaint, in which he alleged that a now-retired employee with “a long history of sleeping on the job” was put in charge of emergency workers sending evacuation alerts and was asleep during critical moments of the first night of the Eaton Fire, when many of the deaths and much of the devastation occurred. County officials deny this account.
In the lawsuit, Vaquero alleges he has faced retaliation after raising his concerns, including being excluded from meetings he previously was a part of and being treated with hostility by the department’s leadership, among other things.
The complaint comes after county leadership launched a three-year restructuring of the Office of Emergency Management, which includes working to add staff and to conduct regular training for all staff on emergency alert software.
An after-action report from the McChrystal Group highlighted that the emergency management office was severely short-staffed during the fire. The department, which serves 10 million people, had a staff of 37 people at the time the fires broke out. Meanwhile, New York City has a population of 8.5 million and an emergency management staff of about 200 people, the report noted.
Pasadena record store and venue Healing Force of the Universe, a destination for local musicians and music fans, is fundraising to move to a bigger space.
The performances: The shows Healing Force puts on are all kinds of genres, but they share a common thread. They’re often meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system.
What's next: Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the home base for the Beastie Boys when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication.
See the Pasadena space before it closes: The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their calendar of events on their website.
For the last three years, the record store and music venue Healing Force of the Universe has been operating on a sleepy street corner not far from Pasadena City College. Nearby businesses include a shoe repair store, a nail salon and several auto shops.
“We're kind of in a dead corner,” owner Austin Manuel said. “No offense if anybody lives here, but not a very foot-trafficked area, kind of a hard place to have a store.”
In spite of the location, Manuel said Healing Force has become a home away from home for musicians and music fans. One of them is Bobby Bradford, a jazz trumpet legend who lost his house and personal archive in the Eaton Fire. He performs regularly at the venue. (Healing Force has also partnered with LAist on fire recovery events.)
Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the Beastie Boys' home base when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Run-DMC and Biz Markie stopped by at one point, and Beck also laid down tracks for his album Odelay there.
Healing Force sells records, of course, but these days it’s more of a nighttime performance space. Manuel said he wants people to feel comfortable striking up conversations after a show.
“I grew up in the church in the South, and I was like, ‘How do I design this so that it feels like a Southern church lady could come in here and feel welcome?’" Manuel said. “ I didn't want it to be too cool. I wanted it to feel kind of suburban in a way.”
Though the name might call to mind a cult slogan — and Manuel said they lean into that aesthetic on purpose — it’s actually a reference to the 1970 album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe by saxophonist Albert Ayler.
At the venue, “people can kind of get … into a meditative zone,” Manuel said. “After the [January 2025] fires, it felt so good to come back together in this room and feel the healing of community.”
The shows Healing Force puts on share a common thread: They’re meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system. But they’re an eclectic mix of genres. On one night, you might see L.A. spiritual jazz band Phi-Psonics, who turned a residency at the venue into a live album, Expanding to One.
On another night, you might catch a spaced-out electronic set, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter or a group of session musicians who’ve played with the likes of Paul Simon, Elton John and Lucinda Williams.
With the new space on Glendale Boulevard, Manuel said, Healing Force would triple its capacity for concerts, get a bar space and be closer to other venues in Northeast L.A.
“If 1,000 people gave $25, we would get there,” Manuel said – though he also said most people have been giving more.
You can read more about the fundraiser and donate at Healing Force’s GoFundMe.
The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their events calendar on their website.
Racist language still lurks in housing documents. You can get rid of it as part of a 2021 law which mandates its removal in California. Here’s how to do it across Southern California.
Why now: California counties are reporting mixed progress meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.
The backstory: Language in housing documents that restricts the sale of a property to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice began in the 19th century.
What's next: Counties are asking for the public’s help by identifying the language in their housing documents and filling out a form to get rid of it.
Read on… to read the text from a restrictive covenant from 1924.
The racist DNA of Jim Crow discrimination may be embedded in your housing documents.
The language in housing documents that restricts sale or use of a property only to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice goes back to the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century. While housing discrimination persists, the practice was found unconstitutional in 1948.
California counties are reporting mixed progress in meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.
According to Sylvia Manzo, deputy recorder in the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the county finished the job in March of this year, removing racist language from more than 27,000 property documents with the help of computer software.
L.A. County is far from done. It says that with the help of an outside company hired in 2024, 50 million pages will be examined yearly, which would take about 10 years to finish the job.
Public agencies could use the public’s help.
Here’s a 1924 example from a property in Bakersfield. The text reads, “That the lands herein conveyed shall never, at any time, be sold to or rented to or occupied by any person not of the white or Caucasian race.”
Or this language from a 1936 document relating to a Costa Mesa property: “That said premises shall not be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased to, or occupied by any person of African, Mexican, or Asiatic descent.”
The Restrictive Covenant Modification Form is at the heart of the effort to remove the racist language from housing documents. Each county has its own process. Some charge a fee; others don’t. Some require a notary certification for the signature; others don’t.
Registrar-Recorder officials recommend these steps:
The Orange County spokesperson says there may be some properties not caught by its software and urges the public to report them. Here’s the form
Here’s the Riverside County form
Here’s the San Bernardino County form
Here’s the San Diego County form
Here’s the Santa Barbara County form
Ignoring the racist language in property documents, some say, reinforces the legacy of segregation, while taking steps to remove restrictive covenant language is a way individuals and organizations can repudiate policies that sought to discriminate.
