A lesson in labor politics in California

Jan 22, 2024

California Faculty Association members rally and picket outside San Francisco State University in San Francisco.

California Faculty Association members rally and picket in the rain outside San Francisco State University, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. | Eric Risberg/AP

CAMPUS CRUSADE: They are among the most highly educated people in society — and yet many say they are barely making it in California.

As faculty at the California State University walked off their jobs today across the state, many told a familiar story: It’s too hard to survive here, even on what was once considered a decent salary, due to the rising cost of housing and other day-to-day expenses.

“When I go to the grocery store, I have to really think about how much I'm spending now because I live paycheck to paycheck,” said Anne Luna, a sociology professor at Sacramento State and president of the campus chapter of the California Faculty Association.

The CFA strike is scheduled to last through Friday at all 23 campuses of the largest system of higher education in the country. The walkout by about 29,000 union members, the largest by faculty in the U.S., will be disruptive to students, many of whom are just starting the semester.

If this all sounds familiar, there’s a reason. Labor activism has become increasingly common at American institutions of higher education. In December 2022, a strike by 48,000 academic workers at the University of California went on for more than a month before the last of the unions ratified contracts.

There were also strikes by school workers in Los Angeles and Oakland teachers last year — not to mention the economically damaging walkouts by actors and writers.

What they all have in common is that workers say pay isn’t keeping up with the cost of living and they are increasingly willing to use the strongest weapon at their disposal to press their demands. In California, where labor is powerful, the tactic has been largely successful.

CFA members — who include coaches, counselors and professors — make an average salary of $65,000. Adjunct professors often get around $35,000.

California State University has granted a wage increase of 5 percent for a contract that expires next year. CFA wants 12 percent, along with some improved benefits, and the two sides are at a standstill.

Will the CSU cave to the pressure? We may know as soon as the end of the week.

IT’S MONDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check of California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to sgtaylor@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

READY TO RUMBLE: The top four California Senate candidates will go head-to-head in a debate this evening for the first time — aiming to break out of the pack or maybe go viral with an indelible political moment.

Tonight’s debate, hosted by POLITICO, Fox 11 Los Angeles and the University of Southern California Dornsife Center for the Political Future, is a chance for Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee to distinguish themselves from their fellow Democrats, and for Republican former baseball star Steve Garvey to show California he can play the politics game.

The stakes are huge — a chance to gain some ground in a fight to represent 40 million Californians in a Senate seat previously held for more than 30 years by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The debate will be moderated by Fox 11’s Elex Michaelson and our very own Melanie Mason (don’t miss Melanie’s pre-debate rundown). We’ll be tracking some key dynamics for insights into the candidates’ strategies as we enter the final sprint before the March 5 primary election, from which the top two vote-getters advance to the general.

For those following along at home, we’ve drafted a handy bingo card to help you track the candidates’ favorite subjects and turns of phrase. Let us know when you’ve hit bingo by sharing your card with us on X, using #SenateShowdown

The debate, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. PST at the Bovard Auditorium on the University Park Campus, will air live on FOX 11 in Los Angeles, KTVU FOX 2 in the San Francisco Bay Area and be livestreamed on POLITICO.

ON THE BEATS

TOTAL RECALL: Voters in the Inland Empire will get to decide whether they want to keep a school board president who pushed a conservative agenda and feuded publicly with Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Riverside County registrar said today that backers of an effort to recall Temecula Valley Unified school board President Joseph Komrosky have gathered enough signatures to get on the ballot.

Komrosky went viral last year for calling gay rights icon Harvey Milk a "pedophile.” He was part of a conservative majority — now no longer in control of the board — that banned critical race theory, rejected a curriculum that mentioned Milk and required that staff tell parents if a student identifies as transgender. The Temecula school board can now choose a date for the recall election or leave it to the county to do so. Another recall has been approved in Orange to oust a conservative member there. — Blake Jones

REPPING THE OC: Speaking of Porter, there’s a crowded field of candidates seeking to replace her. They include Republicans Scott Baugh, a former Assemblymember who has run for the seat before, and Max Ukropina, a businessman from Newport Beach. The latter has now drawn an endorsement from former Trump official Ric Grenell.

Ukropina is a friend and an “America First patriot,” says Grenell, who served as acting director of national intelligence and an ambassador under the previous administration. It also seems to matter that he’s not Baugh, who has run unsuccessfully for the seat in the past. “Max has been a businessman, he’s been working hard. He hasn’t been a career politician,” Grenell said in a video posted on X.

Democrats in the race, meanwhile, include state Sen. Dave Min and Joanna Weiss, an attorney and founder of a nonprofit.

WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY

BACK TO THE OFFICE: The California Health and Human Services Agency is ordering its workers back to the office, at least for part of the week, following a similar return-to-the-workplace mandate from the California Environmental Protection Agency. (The Sacramento Bee)

TROUBLED TIMES: Members of California’s congressional delegation are urging the owners of the Los Angeles Times to reach an agreement with its union after several hundred walked off the job to protest pending job cuts. (POLITICO)

BORDER IN THE COURT: The Supreme Court determined in a 5-4 ruling that the federal government has the power to enforce the law along the U.S.-Mexico border — allowing Border Patrol agents to cut barbed wire installed at the behest of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as part of a policy linked to the deaths of three migrants. (Los Angeles Times)

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