Muddy Numbers Blur the True Effects of a Strike Caused by California State Labor Laws

Fresno, CAA recent strike orchestrated by Service Employees International Union Local 1000 over perceived violations of the California labor code has gone largely unnoticed, thanks to poor reporting and potentially false statistics, according to the State Worker.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">The union, which represents more than 95,000 employees across a wealth of private companies and government agencies, asked its members to refrain from working on October 12, in defiance of the state's erasure of Columbus Day from the State's paid holiday list.

Local 1000 claims that holidays are a contractual matter that must be discussed with union officials.

According to FresnoBee.com, the office of Governor Schwarzenegger issued a cease and desist order, referring to the strike as illegal under California law and threatening disciplinary actions against any worker absent on that day -- moves the union labeled as bullying.

It is unknown how many workers actually stayed home that day. Local 1000 claims that sympathetic managers purposely refrained from reporting absences to hide the scale of the strike -- a factor that might account for the dismal numbers reported through an independent phone survey performed by the State Worker.