Gov. Newsom rejects bill to give unemployment checks to striking workers

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California won’t be giving unemployment checks to workers on strike, with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoing a bill Saturday that had been inspired by high-profile work stoppages in Hollywood and the hotel industry.

Newsom says he supports workers and often benefits from campaign contributions from labor unions. But he said he vetoed this bill because the fund the state uses to pay unemployment benefits will be nearly $20 billion in debt by the end of the year.

“Now is not the time to increase costs or incur this sizable debt,” Newsom wrote in a veto message.

The fund the state uses to pay unemployment benefits is already more than $18 billion in debt. That’s because the fund ran out of money and had to borrow from the federal government during the pandemic, when Newsom ordered most businesses to close and caused a massive spike in unemployment. The fund was also beset by massive amounts of fraud that cost the state billions of dollars.

Plus, labor unions said unemployment benefits are good for the economy, allowing workers on strike to still spend money and support local businesses.
“That money is going to corner stores, to restaurants, to caterers, to nail salons, to the small businesses that are also struggling along with workers who are on strike,” Sarah Flocks, legislative and strategic campaign director for the California Labor Federation, told lawmakers during a public hearing earlier this month.

The bill would have let workers who were on strike for at least two weeks receive unemployment checks from the state, which can be as much as $450 per week. Normally, only workers who lost their job through no fault of their own are eligible for those benefits.

Some union workers called Newsom’s move a blow for striking union members in the state.

“It felt like a punch to the gut,” said Taylor Orci, who walked the picket lines for the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA. Though frustrated by the move, many say it won’t stop the labor movement.

“Just because Newsom vetoed this in California, and we aren’t going to get striking benefits like workers in New York and New Jersey, it’s not going to weaken the resolve of anybody who is currently striking,” said Orci.