Region 1 Bargaining Update

The Bargaining Committee met with Court Administration today in Santa Fe Springs, and the following is a synopsis of the latest developments in our contract negotiations: 

This Saturday meeting is open to all members in good standing of the union in Region 1.  Therefore, people from other regions, freelancers or associate members will not be permitted to attend.

The meeting is specifically to address the Region 1 contract bargaining and mobilization and will take place on Saturday, May 12 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm at the CFI Local 39000 offices located at 12215 N. Telegraph Rd., Suite 210, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670.   

  
In solidarity… 
  
Your Region 1 Bargaining Team 
CFI Local 39000, CWA-TNG 
  
Pedro Ramírez-Navas 
Daniel Kaufman  
Doris Vick  
Michael Ferreira  
Robert Guerrero  
Caren Sencer, Spokesperson  

Region 1 Bargaining Update

April 30, 2018, Airport Courthouse

The Bargaining Committee met with Court Administration today, and the following is a synopsis of the latest developments in our contract negotiations:

 Article 21 - Salary
 
Region 1’s counterproposal regarding salary includes a Bonus Payment of 2% at ratification for “A” status employees and a prorated amount for “C” status employees.  Those in “F” status would receive a one-time payment of $500. 
 
They continue to offer a 2.5% adjustment effective the first pay period after ratification, a 2.25% adjustment 12 months later, and another 2% 12 months after that.  Region 1 rejected our proposal for longevity pay and we will continue to press for recognition that employees’ commitment and experience matters.
 
We proposed language to address the issue of employees being docked for arriving late when assignments were made the same day and their spokesperson stated that there was “sharp disagreement on that.”  He stated as clarification that interpreters are not being docked, but are being paid for hours worked, not for commute time to their assignment.  He suggested that we “take these matters to arbitration, and see what the arbitrator says.  Our answer is ‘NO’.”
 
We continue to request that employees certified or registered interpret in more than one language pair receive an enhancement and proposed a 1% increase for all hours worked or paid.
 
While LA County does not have an assigned interpreter coordinator we nevertheless proposed a 10% adjustment should that occur and 15% for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.  Santa Barbara currently has a coordinator (who is a member of our unit) who is paid an additional 10% for hours spent coordinating.
 
Article 4 – Authorized Agents
 
We agreed to an address change in which the Santa Fe Springs office address will be used for communication between Region 1 and CFI.
  
Article 18 – Assignments
 
As the automated assignment system is nowhere near ready, your Bargaining Committee recognized that continuing to discuss this matter was nonproductive.  Not wanting to delay contract negotiations further, we suggested a Side Letter Reopener on this issue.  Court Administration agreed to that and proposed 30 days’ advance notice on the implementation of an automated scheduling system. This would allow us to see the actual system, and bargain over the issue when the system can be observed and studied.
 
Article 26 ‒ Employees’ Benefits
 
The Court submitted a proposal to modify the existing language in the Santa Barbara side letter to the contract clarifying the fringe benefits the employees receive.  Interpreter employees in the Santa Barbara Superior Court receive fringe benefits at the same level as those Santa Barbara Court employees represented by SEIU Local 620.
 
Conclusion
 
The Region One Bargaining Committee would like to give a special shout out to our members Claudia Lancaster (A), Sonia Cruz, and Maya Fonseca (F) for their generous support today, and hope they found the experience enlightening as to the bargaining process.
 
Bargaining Meeting
 
You will have an opportunity to meet with your Bargaining Committee for a “State of Bargaining” report that will explore the attached chart in further detail. We will give an overview of where things presently stand in the negotiations process, and we will address questions and comments you may have.  Remember to review the Bargaining Chart available in the Members Only section of the CFI member website.
 
The meeting is specifically to address the Region 1 contract and mobilization and will take place on Saturday, May 12 from 1:00 to 4:00pm at the CFI Local 39000 offices located at 12215 N. Telegraph Rd., Suite 210, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670.
 
In the meantime, we hope to see you at our upcoming bargaining dates on Friday, May 11 at the Santa Fe Springs Local office, and May 21^st and 22nd at yet to be determined locations.
 
“A” and “C” status interpreters should send in their RTOs today to observe the negotiations first-hand.
 
In solidarity…
 
Your Region 1 Bargaining Team
CFI Local 39000, CWA-TNG
 
Pedro Ramírez-Navas
Daniel Kaufman 
Doris Vick 
Michael Ferreira 
Robert Guerrero 
Alejandro Delgado, Spokesperson

Region 1 Bargaining Update

March 28, 2018, Stanley Mosk Courthouse

• Year One of the Contract – 2.5%, up from 2%.
• Year Two of the Contract – 2.25%, up from 2%.
• Year Three of the Contract – 2%, as previously offered.

1. No other bargaining unit in the Courts has a COLA, which is an increase tied to the CPI (Consumer Price Index).

2. There is a low turnover among interpreter employees, which indicates to the Court that the workforce has no feeling of dissatisfaction; if the workforce was dissatisfied, they would look for work elsewhere. He discounts retirements, as not counting as separations .

3. In the same vein, the Courts feel that the benefits and wages offered to interpreter employees are comparable to those offered by other employers, which indicates to them that their workforce is satisfied with the present wage and benefit structure.

4. As far as the proposed step structure, Mr. Wiley gave a “brief” history as to why interpreters were not given steps in 2005 when the first contract was negotiated. He explained that as a new classification, it would have been “very expensive” to slot interpreters into a step system, and administration would have had to significantly decrease the starting salary to a number which would have made it difficult to recruit new employees. The Courts opted to use their resources to raise the salary for those interpreters already employed.

• We incorporated into our counter offer the Courts’ percentage increase numbers of 2.5%, 2.25%, and 2% over the life of the three-year contract.

• Additionally, the team requested three “longevity increases” which shall be added to the base rate on the anniversary of each interpreter’s Continuous Service Date (CSD): $0.25/hour after five years of service; $0.50/hour after ten years of service; and $0.75/hour after fifteen years of service. These increases would begin on the first pay period, twelve months after the ratification date.

• We also requested that effective the first pay period after ratification, all employees receive a one-time 2% signing bonus.

• The team continued to press for a wage differential for interpreters who are certified or registered in more than one language pair and proposed a 2% salary enhancement for each additional language.

Region 1 Bargaining Update

March 21, 2018 

Today’s session started with a demonstration of the Automated Advanced Scheduler program designed by Novatime. The Administration anticipates using this system to compile and fill all available interpreter assignments for A floaters, C, and F employees.
 
Despite insisting this is one of the most important issues for the Court, management was not able to provide anything specific to interpreters, but instead provided a PowerPoint presentation titled: Judicial Assistant Assignment Demo, which deals with the assignment process for court clerks; this same program will soon be rolled out for court reporters.
 
It is difficult to extrapolate how this software will work for interpreters, since both judicial assistants and court reporters are assigned on a one-to-one basis. Furthermore, their issues are fundamentally different from ours as neither judicial assistants nor court reporters have intermittent employees in their unit.
 
The presentation only focused on the coordinator’s role in the management and utilization of this program; it included nothing about interpreter accessibility to select their assignments. All this leads your bargaining team to believe that management really has not contemplated the needs of and the impacts on interpreter employees, particularly the F status.
 
Your bargaining team presented a package proposal in which the Union accepted changes to Article 15 – New Employees and withdrew our proposals to language modifications to Article 8 – Discipline and Discharge and Article 31 – Office Space and Supplies in exchange for management accepting paying for three days of bargaining committee caucus time (Article 37 – Stewards). True to form, the Court rejected the package proposal and these remain as outstanding issues to be negotiated.
 
We would like to give a special shout out to our members María Ruíz (A) and Carolina Izquierdo (F) for their generous support today.
 
Our next bargaining session will be held next Wednesday, March 28, 2018 at10:00 am, Room 522, at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. We encourage members to support bargaining by attending the next session; get your RTO’s in early! We’ll see you there.
 
In solidarity…
 
Your Region 1 Bargaining Team
CFI Local 39000, CWA-TNG
 
Pedro Ramírez-Navas
Daniel Kaufman 
Doris Vick 
Michael Ferreira 
Robert Guerrero 
Caren Sencer, Spokesperson