Contact: Chris Flink, chris.flink [at] seiu1021.org, 510.701.9637

Oakland, CA — After a week’s worth of voting at dozens of worksites across Oakland, more than 2,000 City of Oakland workers in SEIU Local 1021 have voted overwhelmingly—95.17% YES—to strike.

At issue for the workers are pervasive understaffing, with more than one in five budgeted positions unfilled across the City, unfair bargaining practices during contract negotiations, which have dragged on since March of this year, and a number of proposed cuts to take-home pay, increased benefits costs, and other takeaways.

“When we look at this city,” said Antoinette Blue, an emergency dispatcher who serves as the SEIU 1021 City of Oakland Chapter President, “We see so much our members could be doing for residents, but can’t do because we’re stretched so thin. Our streets could be cleaner and safer, our 911 calls could be taken more quickly, our Head Starts could accept more kids, except none of this can happen because we don’t have the people here to do the work. This understaffing is a policy choice, and if we don’t strike, the City may never choose differently, and those choices will keep harming our workers and our community.”  

This vote comes just after SEIU 1021 workers took their case to the public at the first night of the Autumn Lights Festival, flying banners and passing out fliers to hundreds of Oaklanders. Another of Oakland’s unions, IFPTE Local 21, is holding a strike vote currently, which will conclude on Wednesday, October 21. No strike dates have been announced yet.

SEIU 1021’s City of Oakland chapter represents more than 2,000 workers employed by the City of Oakland. The workers include police and fire dispatchers, building inspectors, library workers, sewer workers, animal control workers, park attendants, Head Start staff, clerks, street paving and maintenance crews, Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful workers who handle illegal dumping, and more. SEIU Local 1021 represents over 60,000 workers across Northern California in local governments, non-profit agencies, healthcare programs, schools, and other employers.