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Newsom Strikes Down Unemployment Benefits To Striking Workers, Citing $20 Billion Debt
SAG AFTRA and WGA members and supporters picket outside of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.
(
Brian Feinzimer
/
for LAist
)
Topline:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that aimed to extend unemployment benefits to striking workers, a proposal that picked up steam in the state legislature during the dual Hollywood strikes.
Who it affects: The bill would have applied to workers who were on strike for at least two weeks, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2024.
Why now: In a message accompanying the veto, Newsom said he has "deep appreciation and respect for workers who fight for their rights," but that the state unemployment fund is projected to owe the federal government nearly $20 billion by the end of the year. "Now is not the time to increase costs or incur this sizable debt," he added.
The backstory: The bill, SB 799, was introduced earlier this year by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank). Other states do offer unemployment benefits to workers on strike. New Jersey began offering the benefits in 2018, and New York followed in 2020.
I am disappointed in the Governor’s veto of SB799. The labor unrest&concern we all witnessed this summer earned legislature’s action to pass UI benefits 4 striking workers. The need continues and so will efforts to make this law in CA. @seiucalifornia @CaliforniaLabor @LALabor
— Anthony Portantino (@Portantino) October 1, 2023
The pro-labor response: "The hardworking women and men in California need to put food on their table and pay their rent. SB 799 would have injected a small piece of security to working families that is needed and deserved," wrote state Sen. Anthony Portantino, the author of the bill, in a statement.
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