{"id":261269,"date":"2026-04-10T16:10:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/261269\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:10:25","slug":"i-watched-california-unions-prioritize-left-wing-politics-heres-the-shocking-truth-behind-the-labor-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/261269\/","title":{"rendered":"I watched California unions prioritize left-wing politics \u2014 here\u2019s the shocking truth behind the labor movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I spent nearly two decades in California\u2019s labor movement, organizing massive groups like the California Nurses Association, Screen Actors Guild, and more. But I left in 2014 after the movement embraced \u201csocial justice unionism,\u201d focusing on left-wing social issues instead of workers\u2019 interests.<\/p>\n

Oakland, where I\u2019m based, has become a hotbed of this kind of activity. One of my former unions, SEIU Local 1021, has taken a hard-left turn, and supported a since-recalled mayor who now faces federal corruption charges. Other unions have endorsed an anti-coal campaign that is pushing the city to the brink of fiscal collapse. Social justice unionism, in short, threatens to ruin Oakland\u2014and it could do the same to the rest of California.<\/p>\n

\"Supervisor<\/p>\n

Supervisor Matt Dorsey watches as frontline city workers from IFPTE Local 21, SEIU Local 1021, and the San Francisco Building Trades hold a protest during the weekly San Francisco Supervisors meeting in 2025. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images<\/p>\n

SEIU Local 1021 is a poster child of social-justice unionism. It boasts more than 60,000 members and claims to represent workers across Northern California. But instead of fighting exclusively for better working conditions, SEIU 1021 increasingly focuses\u00a0on things like \u201creproductive rights, climate justice,\u00a0immigrants, Black Lives and gender equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union hasn\u2019t been shy about this new agenda. In 2021, union delegates voted overwhelmingly to pass a \u201cracial justice plank.\u201d The new platform committed SEIU 1021 to the fights \u201cagainst over-policing of Black and brown communities\u201d and for the abolition of \u201cprivate, for-profit prisons and immigration detention centers\u201d in California.<\/p>\n

\"Sheng<\/p>\n

Sheng Thao outside the United States District Court. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Then, SEIU 1021 cozied up to the city\u2019s failed leadership. Starting in 2022, the union began boosting the campaign and administration of Sheng Thao, the since-recalled Oakland mayor now facing federal corruption charges. SEIU 1021 played a role in her 2022 election victory, donating $100,000 to \u201cWorking Families for a Better Oakland,\u201d a union-dominated group that received over $550,000 for Thao\u2019s campaign. (I was one of Thao\u2019s opponents.)<\/p>\n

Under Thao\u2019s leadership, Oakland experienced two of its worst years in recent memory. In 2023, crime spiked, with burglaries, robberies, and motor-vehicle thefts rising 23 percent, 38 percent, and 44 percent, respectively. In 2024, In-N-Out even closed its Oakland location, citing crime concerns\u2014the first time the chain had closed a location in company history.<\/p>\n

A group called Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao launched a recall campaign in response to these failures. In June 2024, the campaign, which I led, had garnered enough signatures to get on that fall\u2019s ballot. Days after\u00a0the campaign crossed the signature threshold, Thao\u2019s home was raided\u00a0by the FBI\u2014but the recall campaign continued.<\/p>\n

In fact, SEIU 1021 gave\u00a0the former mayor $50,000 to fight the recall\u2014despite the FBI\u2019s having already raided her home. Rank-and-file members were probably stunned by the union\u2019s support for an unpopular mayor. Unsurprisingly, in November, Thao was recalled, with some 60 percent of voters supporting her ouster.<\/p>\n

SEIU 1021 is not the only union complicit in the city\u2019s failures\u2014in fact, other unions are pushing Oakland to the brink of fiscal collapse.<\/p>\n

In 2015, activists founded the \u201cNo Coal in Oakland\u201d movement, hoping to keep coal out of the city. The movement, backed\u00a0by at least 17 labor unions, secured support from many\u00a0elected officials.<\/p>\n

\"Carroll<\/p>\n

Carroll Fife, a candidate for the Oakland City Council District 3 seat, speaks to supporters during a brief rally. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images<\/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\u00a0the lawsuit\u2014a defeat that may prove costly.<\/p>\n

An OBOT sublessee, Insight Terminal Solutions, filed claims seeking damages that could reach into the hundreds of millions at a time when Oakland is already facing a structural budget deficit.<\/p>\n

\"Seneca<\/p>\n

Seneca Scott speaking to a crowd of people at an outdoor event. Seneca Scott<\/p>\n

\"Seneca<\/p>\n

Seneca Scott and other protestors holding signs demanding to \u201cClean City Hall\u201d due to \u201cBudget Deficit\u201d and \u201cFailed Leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, as the case moves toward resolution, the consequences of those union-backed loyalty pledges are materializing. The city, already on the brink of bankruptcy, could face\u00a0at least $230 million in potential liability, with total exposure possibly exceeding $600 million.<\/p>\n

Oakland workers are increasingly fed up with their leaders\u2019 hard-left turn. According to my analysis, 503 of SEIU 1021\u2019s 2,031 listed members are no longer paying dues. Other California unions show similar trends: 26 percent\u00a0of workers represented by SEIU Local 99 in the Los Angeles Unified School District have stopped paying union dues as of 2024, and nearly 48 percent of the roughly 100,000 employees covered by SEIU Local 1000 have left or refused membership.<\/p>\n

\"Seneca<\/p>\n

Seneca Scott speaking at an event under a banner that reads \u201cSeneca Scott for Oakland Mayor, Neighbors Together, We Deserve Better.\u201d Seneca Scott<\/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

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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

Seneca Scott is a political strategist, writer, and organizer based in Oakland and Nashville.<\/p>\n