With a budget surplus nearing $100 billion, it’s time for Governor Newsom and the California State Legislature to address demands for pay equity from state scientists whose work is undervalued and underpaid.
State scientists – more than half are women – often do similar work as state engineers, 78% of whom are men.
We count on California’s “citizen scientists” to protect our communities from toxic pollution, combat climate change, preserve wetlands, and identify safe consumer products.
State scientists working full-time, however, earn on average 27% less than state engineers – a difference of over $30,000 annually.
That’s not pocket change – it’s enough to pay rent or a mortgage for an entire year.
The pay disparity started in 2005 when the state’s engineers negotiated a contract that increased their salaries by 30%.
No comparable increase was offered to the state’s citizen scientists – and they took action.
From 2006 to 2014, the California Association of Professional Scientists, the scientists’ union, filed administrative actions and a lawsuit that eventually compelled the state to grant pay raises of up to 43% to state scientist supervisors.
But rank and file state scientists received no comparable increase.
One scientist described her frustration: “I’m angry that the inequality has continued for so long, allowing our department to be less effective and creating a divide between colleagues of different classifications, which disrupts the important work we do.”
In 2020, two agency secretaries stepped into the battle and stepped up for pay equity.
Jared Blumenfeld, head of the California Environmental Protection (CalEPA) agency, and Wade Crowfoot who directs the California Natural Resources Agency, sent letters to the California Department of Human Resources appealing for pay equity for state scientists.
Blumenfeld called out a “long-standing disparity in how we compensate technical staff completing equivalent or similar work. . . “ That disparity, he wrote, results in low staff morale and challenges to recruit and retain personnel, compromising his agency’s capacity “to safeguard California’s resources, products, food, and climate.”
With this high-level and pointed public advocacy, it’s baffling – and maddening – that state scientists remain underpaid – and have worked without a contract since 2020.
That’s due, in part, to the state’s flawed collective bargaining process, used by the California Department of Human Resources to negotiate contracts with unions representing state employees.
No surprise: Male-dominated unions with political clout – like those representing highway patrol officers and correctional officers – wrest generous contracts for pay and benefits, not matched by unions with less political influence and fewer members – like the California Association of Professional Scientists.
That’s why it’s critical that the governor and state legislature use their power to do more to guarantee pay equity for state scientists.
With access to a $100 billion budget surplus, the Governor could direct CalHR to bring a pay equity remedy to the negotiating table.
State legislators, responsible for giving final approval for union contracts, could refuse to sign off unless the agreement includes a pay equity increase.
There’s reason to be hopeful, as the Governor appears to have pay equity for state workers on his political radar.
He convened a task force to develop, in part, recommendations on pay equity; signed the California Pay Equity Pledge, an initiative of the First Partner; and proposed a Key Data Initiative to gather more information to pinpoint pay inequities.
But promises and plans don’t help state scientists pay their monthly bills, and they remain at the bargaining table, negotiating to bring their salaries and benefits to par with state engineers.
The governor and state legislature need to bring these negotiations to a close – with a guarantee of pay equity for California’s citizen scientists.
