The 48-hour strike by over 55,000 Los Angeles County workers, which ended Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., revealed two important realities: the immense, paralyzing power of the working class—and the efforts of the ruling elite and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) bureaucracy to suppress it.

In what the union itself admits is the first time in county history that all its members walked out together, an endless stream of workers flooded into the streets of one of the largest urban centers in the world. Social workers, janitors, nurses, mental health aides and clerical staff became a river that shut down crucial public services and reminded the city’s billionaires and bureaucrats where real power lies.

Entire departments were emptied. Metro stations, public clinics, children’s services offices—everything slowed or halted, as workers demanded the most basic elements of dignity: wages that can beat inflation, safety on the job and a halt to the outsourcing of their livelihoods to private contractors.

A union-led study in December revealed that the county has shoveled billions into the coffers of private firms. This “taxpayer-to-private-sector pipeline” siphons public money into corporate hands, leaving both county employees and underpaid contract workers in the lurch. The logic is capitalist to the core: Funnel funds upward; starve the working class.

On Tuesday, 14 workers were arrested for refusing to disperse during a post-rally march—nonviolent protesters met by police. The fact that a county run by Democrats is cracking down on its own workers like the Trump administration they claim to oppose shows how the ruling class is scared. When the workers are determined to fight, both parties turn to force. Police batons become the final argument of a political order that has long lost its legitimacy.

This strike was not just about local grievances. It unfolded in the broader context of a national assault on workers and immigrants. Trump’s virulent campaign of repression against migrants, anti-strike legal actions, and promises to eliminate basic democratic protections are features, not aberrations. They are part of a bipartisan agenda of capitalist discipline.

In this moment of profound anger, the most glaring obstacle facing workers was not the county supervisors but the leadership of the SEIU Local 721.

The union deliberately constrained this strike to a 48-hour “Unfair Labor Practice” (ULP) action, giving county officials ample warning and time to prepare. Instead of a real struggle to shut down the County and rally other sections of the working class, SEIU officials ensured the action stayed within legal bounds—i.e., within limits that the ruling class finds tolerable. The immense power of 55,000 workers was throttled, not by the police, but by their own so-called representatives.

It is no coincidence that the union chose to send workers back to the job precisely on May 1—International Workers’ Day. May Day is a holiday born in the US, won through struggle and sacrifice by generations of workers around the globe. The decision to end the strike before its sunrise is a deliberate political statement: SEIU, like the Democratic Party it serves, seeks to isolate American workers from their international class brothers and sisters. 

County CEO Fesia Davenport’s warning that wage increases would create a “structural deficit” and lead to mass layoffs is an open threat, a declaration that the costs of capitalism’s crisis will be offloaded onto the backs of public workers, even as tax breaks and contracts continue to flow to real estate developers and tech firms.

In major urban areas across the country, the Democrats are in charge of imposing the brutal austerity measures being spearheaded by the Trump administration. But the potential to unite LA workers with federal workers and public sector workers in New York, Chicago and other cities will only be realized when workers build the necessary rank and file-controlled organizations to do it. This means expanding the network of rank-and-file committees in every factory, warehouse and workplace.

The WSWS spoke to workers who expressed their outrage. They have not forgotten the 2022 contract betrayal. Many saw that deal as a sellout negotiated far below the inflation rate; it left workers poorer and more overworked than before. That deal planted the seeds for this strike. 

Ryan, a social worker with more than a decade of service, remembered the last strike:

I remember 2022 like it was yesterday. We were in the thick of COVID, working brutal hours, trying to protect kids and families while worrying about our own health and whether we could afford groceries.

He elaborated on the increasing cost of living:

Inflation was already crushing us, and they [SEIU] pushed through a deal that barely covered cost-of-living increases, like we should be grateful just to tread water while everything around us got more expensive. They called it a “victory,” but for those of us in the field, it felt like a setback. They didn’t fight; they folded.

Ryan continued:

Now it feels like déjà vu, only worse. Housing [costs] are through the roof, workloads are higher, and morale is at an all-time low. Management is more out of touch than ever, and the union is already sending signals that they’re ready to compromise again.

He expressed the determination of all 55,000 workers on strike.

I didn’t walk off the job for another bad deal. We need real raises, safe staffing levels and a union that actually listens to the people doing the hardest work. If they sell us out again, they’re going to lose the little trust they have left. My coworker is saying I should drop membership altogether, and it’s hard to argue with him. After everything, what are we really getting out of this?

Carolyn, a worker in the mental health unit at Martin Luther King Community Hospital, emphasized the relationship between the current crisis and the lack of resources needed to provide adequate mental health services.

She said:

The social crisis is getting worse, and we know that our psyche is directly affected by all the things that we experience. So, working in mental health and having to serve the community and link to resources, although our need is great, our resources are not as great. We have very little resources to connect the struggling public to.

Rank-and-file SEIU members are receiving no strike pay. When the WSWS reporter asked an SEIU bureaucrat why the union is not providing strike pay, she became defensive and incredibly answered, “The membership voted against strike pay.” One worker said her brother, who works for the Metrolink, does receive strike pay.

Carolyn explained the consequences of this policy:

We’re out here trying to make sure that not only we’re able to be fairly compensated for the hard work that we’re doing, but that we also have the availability and the energy to be able to do our work. We’re out here missing pay to be able to try to fight for our own rights, but at the end of the day, when the 15th rolls around and my check comes, I’m $300 short.

So, it’s like I do understand that this is something that is very greatly needed for me to do. To be able to fight for myself and the ones that stand beside me to do my work every day, but at the same time, I’m also suffering out here to be able to fight for myself.

Helen, a mental health worker at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, raised the political issues of a fascist government.

She said:

The biggest threat right now is Stephen Miller in Trump’s administration, and he’s been waiting for his chance. Stephen Miller wants to get everybody out of here. He’s going after the blacks. He’s going after the Mexicans, and he’s going after the Filipinos.

These are oligarchs. Look at Tesla. You see Elon Musk got a response when he said he had to step down as of May 5 because he has to take care of his empire. That lets you know that the working class here is not going to take it.

Helen anticipates the class struggle will intensify:

There’s going to be a war, and it’s going to be a class war. People are going to fight, and we’re getting ready to go into a recession.

She concluded:

Trump comes in, and the Democrats act like they didn’t realize what was going on. This is one time they screwed up, and they screwed up big time. Everybody’s talking about leaving the Democratic Party. That’s what they’re talking about.