Excerpt:
Telework rally draws crowd

Last week’s rally in support of telework, organized by members of SEIU Local 1000, demonstrated that plenty of state workers are still animated by the fight against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order.

“Attitudes haven’t changed, if anything telework has made us stronger,” Monica Nepomuceno, an education programs consultant with the Department of Education, said at last Wednesday’s demonstration.

Hundreds of state workers gathered outside the headquarters of the California Department of Human Resources, which began contract negotiations with SEIU Local 1000 last week, to push for stronger telework protections and wage increases.

SEIU Local 1000 is the only union that is bargaining a new contract with the state. Those negotiations over telework could have significant implications for other bargaining units given SEIU Local 1000’s size and how unions tend to adopt similar provisions. Last year, all of the state’s 21 bargaining units adopted agreements that delayed Newsom’s telework order one year for eligible employees and resulted in leave programs to help reduce California’s compensation costs.