SEIU Local 1021 has not been subtle about this shift. In 2021, union delegates voted overwhelmingly to pass<\/a> a \u201cracial justice plank,\u201d which committed the local to fighting the \u201cover-policing of Black and brown communities\u201d and working to abolish \u201cprivate, for-profit prisons and immigration detention centers\u201d statewide. This framework became a core organizing priority, demonstrating the union\u2019s commitment to identity politics.<\/p>\n As SEIU 1021 turned its attention to social justice, it also became intertwined with Oakland\u2019s failed leaders. Starting in 2022, for example, the union boosted the campaign and administration of Sheng Thao, the since-recalled Oakland mayor now facing federal corruption charges<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thao was elected as Oakland\u2019s mayor in 2022, after serving as a city councilmember. (I was one of her opponents.) Unions played a major role in her victory. SEIU Local 1021, for example, contributed $100,000 to \u201cWorking Families for a Better Oakland,\u201d a union-dominated group that received<\/a> over $550,000 for Thao\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n According to a lawsuit<\/a>, Thao should never have been able to run. Plaintiffs claimed that Thao missed the filing deadline, and that the acting city clerk, Krystal Sams, tampered with Thao\u2019s paperwork<\/a>. Sams has served<\/a> as a unit vice president for IFPTE Local 21, a union that donated<\/a> to Working Families for a Better Oakland. The suit resulted<\/a> in a settlement in which the city did not admit wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Under Thao\u2019s leadership, Oakland experienced two of its worst years in recent memory. In 2023, burglaries, robberies, and motor-vehicle thefts rose 23 percent, 38 percent, and 44 percent, respectively, per an Oakland Police Department\u00a0report<\/a>. In 2024, In-N-Out closed<\/a> its Oakland location, citing crime concerns\u2014the first store closure in the company\u2019s history. Later in 2024, 15 people were shot<\/a> near Lake Merritt after a Juneteenth celebration, punctuating Thao\u2019s chaotic tenure.<\/p>\n As a result of these failures, a group called Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao launched a recall campaign in 2024. In June of that year, the campaign, which I led, had garnered enough signatures to get on that fall\u2019s ballot. (Days after<\/a>\u00a0the campaign crossed the signature threshold, Thao\u2019s home was raided<\/a>\u00a0by the FBI. She was later charged with bribery<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Undeterred, SEIU 1021 gave<\/a>\u00a0the former mayor $50,000 to fight the recall\u2014despite the FBI\u2019s having already raided her home. Rank-and-file members were likely stunned<\/a> by the union\u2019s support for a mayor widely rejected by the very communities whom they claim to represent. In November, Thao was recalled, with some 60 percent of voters supporting her ouster.<\/p>\n Thao is just one of the hard-left politicians that SEIU 1021 has supported. The union also backed<\/a>\u00a0Oakland councilmember Carroll Fife, who ran for city council in 2020 with hopes<\/a> of \u201celiminat[ing] racial disparities\u201d and defunding<\/a>\u00a0the police. Per my earlier reporting<\/a>, SEIU 1021 contributed $235,000 to her city council campaign.<\/p>\n Fife rose<\/a>\u00a0to national prominence through the \u201cMoms 4 Housing\u201d movement<\/a>. In 2020, Fife and a group of activist mothers occupied a vacant home, reportedly<\/a>\u00a0\u201cto protest house flipping.\u201d Major outlets amplified their movement, including magazines like Vogue<\/a>. The property the activists occupied was later transferred<\/a> to a community land trust, which has partnered<\/a> with an organization that supported Fife\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n Fife\u2019s campaign illustrates the deep connections between the labor movement and California politicians. Her election bid was supported<\/a>\u00a0by ACCE Action, a \u201cmulti-racial, democratic, non-profit community organization\u201d for which she previously served<\/a>\u00a0as director. ACCE, in turn, regularly partners with unions like SEIU<\/a> and local labor councils<\/a>\u2014creating a parallel, activist-driven political infrastructure.<\/p>\n Social justice unionism is pushing Oakland to the brink of fiscal collapse<\/a>. In 2015, activists founded the \u201cNo Coal in Oakland\u201d movement, hoping to keep coal out of the city. The movement, backed<\/a>\u00a0by at least 17 labor unions, has secured support from many<\/a>\u00a0elected officials.<\/p>\n The campaign had just one problem: the city had already entered into a binding development agreement with Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal (OBOT), allowing coal to be shipped through the port. When the city reversed course and used its regulatory authority to block the project, it triggered years of litigation. Oakland eventually lost<\/a>\u00a0the lawsuit\u2014a defeat that may prove especially costly.<\/p>\n An OBOT sublessee, Insight Terminal Solutions, filed claims seeking damages that could reach into the hundreds of millions\u2014at a time when Oakland is already facing a structural budget deficit<\/a>. Now, as the case moves toward resolution, the consequences of those union-backed loyalty pledges are materializing. The city could face<\/a>\u00a0at least $230 million in potential liability, with total exposure possibly exceeding $600 million\u2014massive figures for a city already on the brink of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n Oakland workers are increasingly fed up with their leaders\u2019 hard-left turn. According to my analysis<\/a>, 503 of SEIU 1021\u2019s 2,031 listed members are no longer paying dues. And as I reported earlier this year, former members are seeking to decertify SEIU 1021.<\/p>\n What\u2019s happening in Oakland is happening across California. Internal documents cited by the California Policy Center show<\/a>\u00a0that in 2024, 26 percent of workers represented by SEIU Local 99 in the Los Angeles Unified School District have stopped paying union dues. Nearly 48 percent of the roughly 100,000 employees covered by SEIU Local 1000 have left or refused<\/a> membership.<\/p>\n By prioritizing left-wing ideology over workers\u2019 interests, California unions have left many rank-and-file members feeling alienated, disempowered, and frustrated with leadership that appears more focused on ideological campaigns than on workplace representation.<\/p>\n If California\u2019s labor movement hopes to regain the trust of the working class, it must return to its original mission: representing workers. Until then, the state will continue to illustrate what happens when a movement built to balance power instead cozies up to it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Sheng-Thao-GettyImages-2193796826.jpg\")
Sheng Thao (Photo by Santiago Mejia\/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Carroll-Fife-GettyImages-1408763492.jpg\")
Carroll Fife (Photo By Paul Chinn\/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/p>\n