SEIU Local 1000 Pressing State for Permanent Telework Policy

Post

SEIU Local 1000 has begun a concerted effort to press the State for a comprehensive and permanent telework plan that will bring consistency to the ill-defined and unevenly applied policies now in place.

In the absence of clear direction from the State and agency leadership, implementation of telework policy is often left to mid-level supervisors, who frequently apply the rules unfairly and micromanage employees unreasonably.

On August 30, a dozen Local 1000 representatives—including President Richard Louis Brown, Vice Presidents Irene Green and Anica Walls, and our nine Bargaining Chairs—met with a CalHR team that included representatives from 10 State agencies.

This meet and confer was the first in a series of meetings planned to solve the challenge of changing working conditions brought on in March 2020 by the stay-at-home order issued by Governor Newsom.

“Our goal is to create a permanent telework policy across all State departments that is accessible to as many of our 100,000 represented employees as possible,” said Local 1000 President Brown. “While the State has had a telework policy since 2010, our intention is to ensure that policy doesn’t sit on the shelf and instead becomes an active tool for state workers.”

Our bargaining team was armed with the results of a recent telework survey completed by thousands of our represented employees. Among the key findings: although more than 80% of the respondents reported they were teleworking; nearly half that number were unaware whether their department even had a telework policy in place.

Other telework issues being discussed:

  • Compensation for teleworking employees to cover increased utility and internet costs
     
  • Comprehensive tracking of telework statistics, including cost savings, to be shared with SEIU Local 1000
     
  • Proper sanitation protocols in place and enforced in the workplace when teleworking employees are called into the office
     
  • Protections for job classifications (e.g. custodians) affected by reduced workloads