Do SEIU Local 1000-represented employees have a right to strike?
Vice President for Bargaining Irene Green talks about our contract and projecting power

Many state workers ask a vital question during bargaining – do we have a right to strike. The law is clear – state workers (like most public workers) have a legal right to strike. The right to strike is one of the most important tools that workers have to leverage their collective strength to maximize the best contract.

This year, our Union is launching our Contract Campaign with the theme Respect Us, Protect Us, Pay Us. The right to strike isn’t theoretical. It takes the commitment of all workers to join in the bargaining effort. It takes the power of all of us to step up our efforts from the beginning of bargaining to the end.  

We’ll start with bargaining surveys and town halls, and together, we’ll continue with fliers and informational pickets. However, the prospect that state workers will stand up together and be counted on to attend strike schools and to learn about the real meaning and power that goes with a vote to authorize a strike, is the best show of power that a Union can have. 

The No Strike clause is part of our contract, and we respect that commitment. However, if our Union doesn’t receive a meaningful salary proposal from the State and negotiations are log-jammed by summer, there is power in a statewide commitment to authorize a strike.

Respect Us, Protect Us, Pay Us isn’t just a theme. It’s our demand.