News of Note

What does CA’s dreary budget mean for state worker negotiations in 2026? – The Sacramento Bee (free read)
The Sacramento Bee 
November 25, 2025

A recent forecast by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts lawmakers will confront a nearly $18 billion deficit in fiscal 2026-27.  The news came despite measures the governor and the legislature took to close a $12 billion budget hole for the current fiscal year, including payroll moves and suspending certain contributions for retirement benefits.

…  State employees won a year-long reprieve from the return-to-office order as part of broader negotiations this summer, which allowed some state employees to keep working from home for the majority of the week while unions agreed to pause raises and instituted a leave program that reduced workers’ pay.  But the fight over telework remains a key position for unions heading into next year when labor representatives will negotiate the issue with CalHR.

Telework “really is a win-win policy that benefits all Californians,” said Ted Toppin, the executive director of the union Professional Engineers in California Government.  “The budget problems point again to the benefits of telework. Telework can help address our significant state budget deficits, not just this year, but for years to come.”

Toppin pointed to the report released in August by the state auditor that estimated California could save up to $225 million in office space costs annually.

Ahead of negotiations over telework next year, Toppin had a message to the administration and the Legislature: “Take the win.  It’s right before us: Reduce congestion and emissions, prevent the need to build out hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space to house employees that can do their work from home, and have done successfully for five plus years.”

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CA state workers claims on telework benefits backed by independent auditor – The Sacramento Bee via MSN
The Sacramento Bee via MSN
August 12, 2025

For those who have been following the telework debate in the California government, Tuesday’s report from the state auditor was a catharsis. The audit – which estimated the state could save up to $225 million in building expenses if California embraced telework – affirmed concerns state employees and their labor representatives have vocalized since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his first return-to-office order last year.

“The Governor has recently called for a more cost-effective and efficient state government. The audit finds that to serve those goals, he should look no further than flexible telework,” Professional Engineers in California Government Executive Director Ted Toppin said in a Tuesday statement.

Saving California taxpayers money while achieving other policy goals, such as cutting emissions and recruiting skilled state workers, “is the definition of cost-effective and efficient government,” Toppin said.

For many, including Assemblymember Josh Hoover, the audit didn’t offer surprises. Rather, it affirmed what the Folsom Republican and others have been arguing: One-size-fits-all telework policies aren’t right for California.

Hoover, who spearheaded the inquiry, said the auditor’s office told him that they gave the Governor’s Office ample time and opportunities to provide more information and reasoning as to why the return-to-office order was so important. But, Hoover said, the administration did not ultimately provide auditors with data to support their mandate.

The Governor’s Office disagreed with the auditor’s findings, including the estimated budget savings. The report doesn’t paint a complete picture of “the benefits of working in person,” Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office, said in a statement.

Throughout the process, auditors requested data and information about the benefits of in-office work to support the Governor’s Office decision making. The administration supplied auditors with two articles. One of those articles was published in 2017, prior to the pandemic’s reshaping of remote work policies. One of the authors of the other report, Stanford Economics Professor Nicholas Bloom, said in an interview Tuesday that four days in the office aren’t necessary to achieve the benefits of in-person work that his report found.

The Governor’s Office has not stated why employees need to return to offices four days a week instead of three or two days, but some have speculated that Newsom is using this issue to give the administration more leverage when negotiating with bargaining units.

… For unions representing state workers, the conversation over hybrid work isn’t over. Toppin, with the state engineers union, concluded: “PECG looks forward to continuing to work with the Administration and all state government stakeholders to establish a long-term flexible telework policy that delivers cost-effective and efficient government while serving the needs of taxpayers, state departments, and state employees.”

To read the entire story, please click here.

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Some state workers got a telework reprieve. Will others secure similar wins?
The Sacramento Bee via MSN
June 25, 2025

In a last-minute turn of events, Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to let state workers in a single bargaining unit continue working primarily from home just a week before his return-to-office order goes into effect.

The Professional Engineers in California Government secured a one-year delay to the switch to four-days in office after filing a series of challenges to the telework policy change – one of which resulted in the state employment board issuing a complaint against the administration over its failure to meet with unions.

Other unions, which have also challenged the governor’s directive in court and through the state employment board, might be hoping for a similar outcome.

The lawsuit and unfair labor practice filed by the engineers had a “big impact” on the return-to-office delay, PECG’s executive director, Ted Toppin, said in an interview. Those challenges were based on the state’s legal requirement to negotiate over the impact of policy changes like changes to hybrid working conditions, Toppin said.

“Those challenges were premised on a need to collectively bargain telework and return-to-office orders,” Toppin said. “We need to give collective bargaining a chance.”

The union representing state scientists has maintained a similar trajectory as the engineers.

State scientists met with CalHR at an informal settlement conference last week after the Public Employment Relations Board issued a complaint – similar to one on behalf of the engineers union – against the administration.

Jacqueline Tkac, president of the state scientist union, said the union’s bargaining team proposed rescinding the four-day, in-office policy, among other items.

“We would welcome an agreement that reflects those priorities,” Tkac said. “At the same time, while we are open to resolution, we don’t intend to drop our (unfair practice charge) unless the issues we raised are addressed.”

But, at this time, the state hasn’t offered the scientist union a similar deal to what the engineers received.

A spokesperson for CalHR declined to comment on pending negotiations, but said that each bargaining unit negotiation is separate.

Last month, the governor invited all 21 bargaining units to the table to discuss potential salary freezes as a way to reduce the state’s compensation costs and chip away at California’s $12 billion deficit.

PECG was in a favorable position when negotiating the telework extension because it, and six other bargaining units, were already in conversation with the state to draft new multiyear contracts for their employees before the governor publicly proposed salary freezes.

The engineers’ union announced the return-to-office delay the same day that it unveiled a tentative agreement that included a 3% raise this year, which would be effectively offset by a two-year furlough program that requires them to take unpaid leave throughout the year.

Meanwhile, other units are still grappling with the dueling threats of reductions to employee compensation and the impending return-to-office deadline.

SEIU Local 1000, the state’s largest representative of public employees – which has taken up similar challenges to the governor’s telework policy, including a lawsuit against Newsom that was filed in Alameda Superior Court last week – declined to comment.

While many state employees hope to continue working remotely more than half the week indefinitely, Toppin said the administration would not budge on extending the four-day policy past 2026. The resolution to the negotiations was “not ideal,” he said, but it provides relief for a year.

Toppin emphasized the fight over telework isn’t over. “This just gives us both … a chance to again see that (telework) works and talk about continuing it in the future,” Toppin said.

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State workers get a reprieve from Newsom’s return-to-office mandate
CalMatters
June 23, 2025

Gov. Gavin Newsom is open to giving California public employees a temporary break on his return-to-office mandate.

The union representing about 14,000 state engineers today announced a deal that would delay Newsom’s order that they return to work four days a week for one year. It was supposed to take effect July 1.

The Professional Engineers in California Government disclosed that agreement alongside a new contract that includes some concessions Newsom wanted to trim payroll expenses as he tries to shore up a $12 billion budget deficit.

Workers represented by the union will get a 3% raise next week, but it will be offset by mandatory unpaid time off that would basically negate the pay increase for two years. Additional raises will take effect in 2027. That’s like the terms of a deal Newsom made last week with the union representing state prison guards.

“The package includes two pay raises and an immediate halt to the four-day return-to-office order for our members. In this budget environment, those are important achievements,” union executive director Ted Toppin said in a written statement.

Governors often grant similar perks to different labor organizations, and that history suggests many other state workers could get a one-year reprieve from the full return-to-office mandate.

Newsom embraced telework policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and unions negotiated work-from-home stipends for public employees. Many of them felt they were as productive as ever, and they were happy to avoid expensive transportation and parking costs.

Newsom brought public employees back to the office twice a week last year and ordered a bigger move to four-days-a-week in May.

As of May, about 108,000 state employees worked from home at least one day a week, the state human resources director told lawmakers at a recent hearing. 

The engineers union was one of several that contested Newsom’s mandate, including filing a lawsuit against the governor in Sacramento Superior Court. The union agreed to drop the lawsuit in its new agreement with Newsom.

Lawmakers have taken unions’ side, writing a letter earlier this month that urged Newsom to push back the mandate and grilling Newsom’s representatives in May over what they considered to be thin details on what the change would cost and how it would be implemented.

“This is pretty bewildering,” Democratic Assemblyman Matt Haney of San Francisco said at the May hearing. “So, is this, is this supposed to go into effect for everyone on July 1st and that everybody would be expected to come back four days on that day?” Contracts for five more public employee unions are scheduled to expire next week. The largest labor organization in state government, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, announced that it filed a legal challenge over the return to office mandate last week. It represents about 100,000 workers.

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California engineers union sues over return-to-office order impact on managers
The Sacramento Bee via MSN
June 9, 2025

In the latest legal challenge to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office mandate, the state engineers union has filed suit in Sacramento Superior Court saying the governor failed to notify a subset of represented employees — supervisors and managers — in implementing the order.

The Professional Engineers in California Government sued the Governor’s Office and CalHR Wednesday, alleging both violated the Excluded Employee Bill of Rights, a state labor law that applies to public workers who are not covered by the Ralph C. Dills Act.  By failing to meet and confer with PECG over the impact of a return-to-office order on supervisors and managers in early March, Newsom violated state labor law, the union alleges.

Since Newsom directed state workers to return to in-person work four days a week starting in July, several unions have filed unfair labor practices that allege the administration violated state labor laws by failing to meet and confer over the impacts of the policy change.

No labor group has more aggressively challenged the Governor’s Office on this front than the Professional Engineers in California Government.

The state engineers union previously filed unfair labor practices against individual departments, including the California Department of Transportation, over the telework policy.  A labor lawyer with the state public employment board issued a complaint in April that said the governor may have violated PECG’s collective bargaining rights when issuing his March executive order.

The state engineers union last week filed the lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court because California’s Public Employment Relations Board does not have jurisdiction to enforce the Excluded Employees’ Bill of Rights.

In the complaint, the union said that California labor law requires the state to notify labor groups of policy changes that will impact working conditions.  Because the governor’s return-to-office order will impact supervisors and managers, in addition to rank-and-file workers, the state ran afoul of PECG members’ rights by failing to notify them.

According to the lawsuit, the union represents roughly 3,400 excluded employees, who are classified as managers and supervisors related to Bargaining Unit 9.  That bargaining unit represents state engineers, many of whom work for Caltrans.

Ted Toppin, the union’s executive director, said the lawsuit is the union’s only available tool to protect supervisory members from the governor’s “illegal executive order.”

“PECG always prefers meeting and talking to lawsuits and court dates,” Toppin said in a statement. “But PECG wasn’t offered the first, so now we have to avail ourselves of the second.”

A CalHR spokesperson, responding on behalf of the department and the Governor’s Office, declined to comment on the pending litigation.

With less than a month before public employees who are eligible for hybrid work are expected to be in state offices four days a week, unions and the workers they represent are running short on time to delay the return-to-office mandate. In response, the Governor’s Office affirmed July 1 would remain the implementation date.

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State workers union targets Caltrans over return-to-office policy
The Sacramento Bee via MSN
May 21, 2025

The formal protests to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order expanded last week after a union filed an unfair labor practice against the California Department of Transportation for failing to discuss the impact of the policy with the labor group.

The new filing comes a month after the California labor relations board found the Governor’s Office may have violated the law by its failure to meet and confer with labor groups before imposing the new telework rule.

The complaint, filed by the Professional Engineers in California Government, centers around the department’s adopting of the four-day in office policy without alerting or discussing its impacts on employees with the union that represents them. The complaint asserts that Caltrans’ “unilateral change was unlawful” because the department denied the union’s right to represent the workers it represents.

PECG asked the employment board to rescind Caltrans’ new telework policy.

In April, Caltrans sent a letter to employees saying the department would not offer exemptions to the return-to-office directive to workers who live 50 miles or more from their offices, which the California Department of Human Resources previously recommended.

Shortly after, a PECG representative asked department officials why Caltrans was disregarding CalHR’s suggestions.

“We are not ignoring the guidance given by CalHR,” Kevin Perez, who works in the Caltrans Labor Relations Office, said in an email, according to the union’s complaint. “We have considered what is best for the department and at this time, we feel that allowing a 50 mile exemption does not meet that threshold.”

Caltrans declined to comment on the union’s recent filing.

Last week, Caltrans employees protested outside the department over what they believed was an overly strict interpretation of the governor’s order.

PECG has been at the forefront of the telework fight before the employment board. Other unions have filed challenges to the executive order, but the engineers’ labor group was the first to secure a complaint against the Governor’s Office. While Newsom’s administration has rejected the labor board’s findings, it will join the union in a meeting with the employment board next week in an attempt to settle the dispute.

Earlier this month, PERB issued a similar complaint against the Governor’s Office in response to an unfair labor practice filed by the largest public union, Service Employees International Union Local 1000.

“There is still time for Caltrans and the Administration to get this right,” said PECG’s executive director Ted Toppin. “And PECG is happy to work with them to do so because a mandatory four-days in office policy will make government less responsive and more expensive, add to traffic congestion and air pollution, and strain the state’s resources just to find office space for the returning workforce.” In communications with members, the union said it plans to file similar challenges against other departments that plan to carry out the governor’s “unlawful executive order.”

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President Steve Lee’s opinion column is running online today in The Sacramento Bee, The Modesto Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Merced Sun Star, The San Luis Obispo Tribune, and another 26 out-of-state news outlets in the McClatchy News chain.

Hear from the union leading the charge against Newsom’s return-to-office mandate | Opinion
The Sacramento Bee
April 23, 2025

Professional Engineers in California Government, which represents more than 15,000 state engineers and related professionals, is leading the legal fight against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ill-advised mandate that state employees must work in-office four days per week starting July 1. 

Why are we leading the fight? It’s not because study after study and the state’s own data show remote work is better for government employers, employees, taxpayers and the environment — even though all of that is undeniably true. 

Our union is fighting the order, issued at the beginning of March, because it is illegal. And late last week, a key state authority said our opposition deserves consideration and told the administration to defend itself. 

The day after Newsom issued his order, we were the first union to file an unfair practice charge with the state Public Employment Relations Board, which administers the collective bargaining laws that apply to California’s state and local governments. We contended (and still contend) that the governor’s mandate violates our bargaining rights, breaks the specific terms of telework we negotiated and breaches longstanding policy previously established by the Legislature. 

We demanded that the Public Employment Relations Board rescind Newsom’s return-to office order and give back the question of in-office requirements to individual departments — not the governor’s office. That would align with the Statewide Telework Policy, which allows telework for workers “to the fullest extent possible.”

We believe Newsom’s order violates collective bargaining laws and therefore is an unfair practice: Telework and a related stipend are benefits that our union and the state agreed to at the bargaining table. Any changes to those benefits must be negotiated. 

Based on our letter, the Public Employment Relations Board issued a complaint late Thursday afternoon which alleges that, indeed, the administration violated the collective bargaining rights of the Professional Engineers in California Government and the employees we represent in two ways: 

• First, Newsom changed the telework policy and announced it without giving our union the chance to meet and confer about the decision and its impact on our members. 
• Second, the administration’s “conduct also interfered with the rights of bargaining unit employees to be represented by (the Professional Engineers in California Government)” and denied our union “its right to represent bargaining unit employees,” according to the Public Employment Relations Board.

The state must respond to the Public Employment Relations Board’s complaint within 20 calendar days. The board has scheduled a May 27 meeting for the parties to informally work out a settlement. If we don’t come to a settlement informally, then the board will set a formal hearing before an administrative law judge. 

Meanwhile, the return-to-office order remains in effect until we settle or we receive a decision. 

Newsom portrays himself as a progressive, prescient leader. During the pandemic, he sought to make telework permanent for 75% of the state workforce. But at a press event in Modesto on April 2, he offered stale and unsubstantiated talking points to justify going back to old ways, claiming that office work creates community, fosters creativity, makes employees more productive, helps the “mom and pop” economy and gives younger employees a career boost.

Others can speculate on Newsom’s motives for the four-days-in-office order. It makes no difference. It’s illegal and wrong-headed. And our union is committed to fighting it. It’s still not too late to withdraw your executive order, governor. Reconsider. Let’s work together on making the government of California a visionary model.

Steve Lee is the 2024-25 president of Professional Engineers in California Government, which represents 15,000 state-employed engineers, geologists and related professionals responsible for designing and inspecting California’s infrastructure, improving air and water quality and developing clean energy and green technology.

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Note: Sacramento CapRadio broadcast and streamed a version of this story that includes a different quote by PECG Executive Director Ted Toppin.  Please open this link to hear it.

Newsom’s return to work order may have violated collective bargaining law 
CapRadio (Sacramento)
April 21, 2025

A California agency that works with state employee unions says Governor Gavin Newsom may have violated a collective bargaining law when he ordered state employees back into the office four days per week.

The Public Employment Relations Board’s complaint says the Governor’s Office appears to have,” failed and refused to meet and confer in good faith,” while also interfering with the rights of bargaining unit employees.  The complaint is a response to an unfair practice charge that a union — the Professional Engineers in California Government — filed just after Newsom announced the executive order. 

PECG claims the Governor’s Office violated the Ralph C. Dills Act, which protects state workers’ right to collective bargaining. 

“Our message to the governor and his people would be that there’s still time to get it right,” PECG Executive Director Ted Toppin said. “Collective bargaining works. All you have to do is give it a chance.”

The Governor’s Office now has 20 days to respond. After that, the charge could go through an informal resolution process or become a formal complaint that goes before an administrative law judge. 

Service Employees International Union Local 1000 filed a similar charge. 

“It’s only one of many things that we can do,” SEIU Local 1000 President Anica Walls said. “I definitely take the position that we need to be firing on all cylinders. And so this is just the legal remedy.” Both the Governor’s Office and the California Department of Human Resources declined to comment for this story.

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Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order may violate law, labor board attorney says 
Sacramento Bee via MSN
April 21, 2025

The top attorney for a California board that enforces labor rules said Thursday that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office may have violated state law over its handling of an order directing many public employees to work in person four days a week. 

That decision came in response to a challenge by the Professional Engineers in California Government, a union that represents many Department of Transportation workers. It is only preliminary and it could set up a lengthy legal process. The general counsel for the Public Employment Relations Board said the Governor’s Office appears to have “failed and refused to meet and confer in good faith” with the union and also denied the group the right to represent its members, both of which would go against the state’s Ralph C. Dills Act.

Ted Toppin, the union’s executive director, said Friday the group wants to talk with the Governor’s Office about what it sees as the benefits of keeping more flexible teleworking. Currently, many state employees are required to work just two days a week in their offices. 

“There has to be an ability to talk about these things before you just hand down the mandate from on high. It just leads to better results.” 

A Governor’s Office spokesperson did not comment on the ruling, and said a representative for the Government Operations Agency would do so. Instead, a spokesperson for a different agency, the California Department of Human Resources, responded and also declined to comment. 

Newsom’s March 3 order surprised many state workers and has led to a backlash from their unions. The engineers group filed its challenge the next day and SEIU Local 1000, the largest state worker union, followed up with its own later that week. An SEIU Local 1000 spokesperson said Friday afternoon the group had yet not received a response. 

Union members have also loudly protested the mandate outside of state office buildings to try and pressure Newsom to change his mind. So far, the governor has not appeared like he will. 

The engineers union wants the employment board to rescind the governor’s order, but getting to that point could take a long time.

The case now moves to informal negotiations between the union and state. If they can’t reach an agreement, an administrative law judge will then hear the case. That likely won’t happen for several months. The engineers union had tried to speed up the review of its challenge but its request to do so was denied.

Whatever a judge decides could be appealed to the employment board and then ultimately to the California Supreme Court. Toppin said the union is open to reaching a settlement but that the group will advocate for maximum flexibility for members and oppose mandates to be in the office without a “demonstrated operational need.” Newsom’s order is set to go into effect July 1.

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California state worker unions eye salary increases, telework as contract negotiations begin
The Sacramento Bee via MSN
January 30, 2025

Salary increases, longevity pay and telework policies are all on the bargaining table this year as California prepares to begin negotiating with seven bargaining units representing over 50,000 state workers.  

… For the union representing over 10,000 state engineers, a bargaining priority is to ensure California agrees to pay employees fair wages that make the state an employer of choice for workers with other public and private job opportunities, said Ted Toppin, the executive director of the Professional Engineers in California Government.

“What that looks like, at least from my perspective, is something that recognizes the inflationary environment that has existed in California for the last three or four years and how it is contributing to a high cost of living,” Toppin said.

… Toppin, with the engineers union, is also hoping to recruit and retain more engineers to civil service through more competitive compensation packages.

While some departments have vacancies for engineering positions, Toppin said the state is competing with private companies and other local governments for a small pool of qualified engineers.

Toppin noted that taxes on gasoline and federal infrastructure legislation has left California with billions of dollars for construction projects. In 2023, the lobbying group American Council of Engineering Companies sent a letter to the Biden administration warning that the country doesn’t have enough engineers to complete the work called for in the federal bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

The shortage of engineers means some projects are delayed, Toppin said.

“It means you don’t build projects, you don’t grow the economy, you don’t create thousands of construction and related jobs, and you don’t generate tax revenue,” Toppin said. “It’s really a losing cycle for everyone.”

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