CFI Local 39000 Letter Sent to All Courts re: COVID-19 Preparedness Response

RE:       COVID-19 Pandemic Protocols for CFI Local 39000 Members

Our Local is concerned with the health and safety of our membership. Our goal is to provide our membership — your employees — the most comprehensive safety and prevention measures. This must be done in an environment that encourages open and free communication without fear of reprisal or negative impacts on pay or continued employment.

To ensure that CFI Local 39000 is aware of the Court’s protocols in place to protect and prevent spread of the Coronavirus, the Local needs answers concerning the questions listed below. 

1. What are the Court’s protocols in place?
2. Are safety teams trained on the protocols?
3. What specific safety measures are in place to prevent infection while at work?
4. Is there a contact tracing process in place?
5. Is there a symptom or exposure reporting protocol or process?
6. Do you have a business/work contingency plan in case of a required closure, or partial closures of courts? Are furloughs a part of the plan?
7. What safeguards are in place to protect interpreter employees who interface with prisoners and the public?
8. How will wage payment to employees be handled in case of closures and people cannot fill out their online timecards from a dedicated court terminal?
9. How will wage payment to employees be handled in case of employees with positive tests, or have confirmed exposure, or have been quarantined?
10. How will attendance absences/occurrences be handled as a result of any of the incidents in #8 and #9 above? Will employees have an order of priority of accrued time to be used in case of illness, quarantine, or furlough? 
11. How has the above information been communicated to employees?
12. Do you have working wireless interpreter equipment and the accompanying sanitizing wipes available to all interpreter employees who may request to use them?

Can employees opt-out to any work assignments at locations identified as high risk without discipline?  Please provide the information by March 13, 2020. If any part of this request is denied or if any materials are unavailable, please state so in writing and provide the remaining items by the above date, which the Union will accept without prejudice to its position that it is entitled to all documents and information sought in this request. In the event that this inquiry should result in a grievance, which then goes to arbitration, the Union will oppose the introduction of any non-disclosed information. 

The Union remains available to discuss further issues or concerns that arise in the future regarding protocols or processes as events change. Thank you for your cooperation and prompt attention in advance.

Resolution in pay increase processing error

February 27, 2020

Dear Region 3 court interpreters, 
 
As you all already know we have ratified a new agreement assenting to an increase in pay as well as a signing bonus that was expected to take effect this past pay period which commenced on February 3, 2020.   Everyone in Region 3 was supposed to receive their increase in the paycheck that was issued on February 21, 2020 along with one-time taxable payment bonus.   The Union –CFI- recently learned that not all employees in Region 3 received this increase or the bonus as parties concurred.  Our court interpreter-employees in Kern County were among some of the employees that did not obtain the raise or their bonus.  Kern County employees were the most affected as none of the court-interpreter employees received their increase in pay nor their bonus as promised after the contract ratification.   
 
 The court interpreter employees in Kern County  notified their Steward of this inaccuracy;  she immediately notified the union therefore the team could start working on this matter and address it with the proper parties.   Kern County’s Human Resources was contacted by the Steward on-site and on Tuesday February 25^th 2020,  this issue was resolved; assuring that the court-interpreter employees will not only notice their raise in pay in the next paycheck but also the retroactive pay plus their one-time bonus.   
 
On behalf of the bargaining committee and CFI we would like to express our gratitude for bringing this to our attention and for giving us the opportunity to work on this.   This resolution could not have been accomplished in such rapid time without the help of the Steward in Kern County and other members of the bargaining committee –Thank you.  
 
 Moving forward, should you notice any discrepancies in your pay or if you need to contact one of the board members or someone in the bargaining team in Region 3 please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us.   
 
In Solidarity, 
 
Carmen Ramos
Janet Hudec
Joey Tobin
Rosa Trevizo  

Calling all CFI Local 39000 members interested in protecting the MOU and supporting your colleagues in the workplace! …  

On Saturday, March 21st, 2020 CFI Local 39000 will be hosting a training session for all members wishing to become stewards and/or update and refine their skills. Although the training is geared to newcomers, any and all present stewards are invited as well! Even if you are unsure of making a commitment to become a steward, you are invited to find out what the “front line” of the labor movement looks like. 
 
The training is mandatory for anyone who wishes to be added to the steward lists for their Region/County. The presenters will be President Mike Ferreira, and CWA steward trainer Louis Rocha from District 9 Sacramento. Some of the topics to be covered are:
 
-      Union structure, guiding documents, and protocols. How our Local fits into the larger CWA union and the labor/union/social justice movement.
 
-      Role, Rights, and Responsibilities of a union steward.
 
-      How to memorialize, share communications, and collaborate on representation issues.
 
-      Grievances and their processing; arbitrations and their preparations; unfair labor practice filings (Public Employee Relations Board) … starting with your Memorandum of Understanding.
 
-      Open discussion about any issue of interest or concern..
 
The training will take place at:

The training hours are 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.  A modest lunch is included. We ask that interested members respond to this email no later than the close of business on Tuesday, March 17th, 2020. Please be on time, and we are encouraging folks to carpool; if you wish to carpool, or be a driver for a carpool, please specify such in your email to [email protected] . 

We look forward to seeing as many as can make it to this Region 4 Southern California training session.

Best regards, in solidarity,

Michael Ferreira
CFI President

News from Region 4:

 - Facing Arbitration Over Unit Work Violation, San Diego Superior Court Offers Settlement. 

-  R4 initiated monthly zoom calls with all stewards. Contact yours for updates, questions and work related concerns.

-  Maria Benitez, long time interpreter and R4 steward retires in March. Thank you Maria for your dedication and your many contributions to the Union.

A message from your Secretary-Treasurer

Dear members,

Receivership ended in December 2019, and Ed Venegas' last day was on December 20th, 2019. I had started to work on getting control of the Finances of the Local, and to that end, I had our accountant review our budget. As many of you know, we have lost members to Janus, and we have hired a top notch Bargaining Attorney to assist us. For that reason, it was not possible to continue to pay for a Representative for Region 2 and 3. As I reviewed the finances, I also realized that in the entire history of this Local, there has never been a Strike Fund to assist members if we had to resort to work actions.There are numerous violations of the Interpreter Act and our MOU in Region 3, and many grievances and ULPs have had to be filed, which has increased the cost of our legal fees.  This is something that needs to be in place, and a strike fund will be in place starting this year. We will consider the possibility of hiring another Rep for these Regions in the future if our financial situation permits it. Please reach out to our Local's e mail with any concerns. You may also use the Representative's cel phone to reach out to us, as it's still the same number. Your E-Board has been working diligently in coordinating representation efforts with stewards in all Regions. Please contact  your local stewards with any issues, as they are there to represent you and assist you. There is an updated list on our website with contact information for our Stewards for all Regions. 

In solidarity, 

Carmen Ramos

Secretary-Treasure, CFI Local 39000