California will not be giving unemployment checks to workers on strike, with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoing a bill Saturday that had been impressed by high-profile work stoppages in Hollywood and the resort trade.

Newsom, a Democrat, says he helps workers and sometimes advantages from marketing campaign contributions from labor unions. But he mentioned he vetoed this bill as a result of the fund the state makes use of to pay unemployment advantages will probably be almost $20 billion in debt by the top of the 12 months.

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

The fund the state makes use of to pay unemployment advantages is already greater than $18 billion in debt. That’s as a result of the fund ran out of cash and had to borrow from the federal authorities throughout the pandemic, when Newsom ordered most companies to shut and brought on a large spike in unemployment. The fund was additionally beset by large quantities of fraud that value the state billions of {dollars}.

The bill would have let workers who had been on strike for at the least two weeks obtain unemployment checks from the state, which could be as a lot as $450 per week. Normally, solely workers who misplaced their job via no fault of their very own are eligible for these advantages.

Labor unions had argued that the quantity of workers on strike for greater than two weeks is so small it might not have had a big affect on the state’s unemployment belief fund. Of the 56 strikes in California over the previous decade, solely two lasted longer than two weeks, in accordance to Democratic state Sen. Anthony Portantino, the creator of the bill.

“This veto tips the scales further in favor of corporations and CEOs and punishes workers who exercise their fundamental right to strike,” mentioned Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, government secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. “At a time when public support of unions and strikes are at an all-time high, this veto is out-of-step with American values.”

The laws was an try by Democratic state lawmakers to help Southern California resort workers and Hollywood actors and writers who’ve been on strike for a lot of this 12 months. The writers strike ended Sept. 26, however the different two are ongoing — that means many workers have gone months with out pay.

Beyond the debt, the Newsom administration has mentioned the fund will not be gathering sufficient cash to pay the entire advantages owed. The cash comes from a tax companies should pay on every employee. But that tax solely applies to the primary $7,000 of workers’ wages, a determine that has not modified since 1984 and is the bottom quantity allowed below federal legislation.

Meanwhile, unemployment advantages have elevated. The Newsom administration has predicted profit funds will exceed tax collections by $1.1 billion this 12 months. It’s the primary time this has occurred throughout a interval of job development, in accordance to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Lawmakers might try to go the legislation anyway, but it surely’s been a long time since a governor’s veto was overruled in California.