Membership Meeting will be held for all members in good standing of CFI Local 39000:

Saturday July 21^st– 10am to 12noon

12215 N. Telegraph Road Suite 210
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670

KEY POINTS IN THE REGION ONE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING NEGOTIATED BY CFI AND REGION 1 COURTS

ACHIEVED:

A 7.5% salary increase over the three-year term of the contract distributed in the following manner: a 2.75% base salary adjustment effective the first pay period after ratification; a base pay increase of 2.50% effective the first pay period 12 months after the first increase; 12 months following the second pay increase mentioned there will be a final base pay adjustment of 2.25%.

A one-time, non-base bonus payment of 2% to all regular status employees in paid status as of June 30, 2018 effective the first pay period after ratification; this payment will be prorated for part-time employees, and all intermittent part-time and as-needed interpreters will receive a one-time payment of $500.00.

Example Full-time employee annual salary $77,005.20 x 2%= 1,540.10 bonus

Twelve months after ratification, full-time interpreters in service as of July 15, 2019 will receive the following one-time, non-pensionable, non-base payment based on length of service: 1% for 5-9 years of continuous service; 2% for 10-14 years; 3% for 15 or more years of continuous service.

Example Annual salary $79,227.20 x 1%= $792.27;  2%= $1,584.54;  3% $2,376.82

Interpreter employees who are certified or registered to interpret in two or more language pairs will receive a 1% salary enhancement for all hours paid for each additional language pair.

The Court will make reasonable efforts to make up to 15 hours of CIMCE-qualifying continuing education and training available to each regular status bargaining unit employee at no cost to the employee; this is an increase from 6 hours offered in the previous MOU.

The Court has agreed to reimburse all full-time and regular status part-time interpreters the cost of their annual certification/registration fees required by the Judicial Council of CA for each language pair in which the employee is certified or registered.

A side letter regarding a reopener on Article 18 (Interpreter Assignments) is included in the MOU which states that the Court will notify CFI prior to making any changes to the interpreter assignment process and will make Court representatives available to meet and confer regarding said changes.  Until the parties exhaust the meet and confer process, the Court will continue to abide by the provisions of Article 18, which respects interpreter seniority. 

NOT ACHIEVED:

Other than the one-time, non-pensionable, non-base payment mentioned in the third paragraph above, the Court was unwilling to offer any other kind of salary increase based on length of service (steps) and to negotiate any further on their offer.

We were unable to get binding arbitration language included in Article 9 (Grievance Procedure) or Article 11 (Expedited Arbitration).

The Region rejected CFI’s proposed changes to Sections 37.2 and 37.3 of Article 37 (Stewards) and proposed the status quo; their proposal was incorporated herein by reference in their final Comprehensive Package Proposal. They were unwilling to pay for caucus time for the bargaining team in preparation for negotiations (which has been the past practice), and they did not grant travel time for any bargaining member traveling from the Central Coast.

We were unable to get the creation of a new classification status for retired court interpreters allowing them to be rehired under California Government Code Section 7522.56.  This would have been included in Article 16 (Employment Status).

We were unable to get into the contract language which addresses the issue of the docking of “F” status interpreters if they arrive late to an assignment given to them on the same day.  Said language was hoped to be included in Article 18 (Interpreter Assignments).

The bargaining team feels that there are some important issues that need to be resolved, most significantly recognition of our years of service to the Courts by means of “steps” or a “longevity increase”.  We do not feel that a one-time non-pensionable, non-base payment as mentioned in the third paragraph of this letter reflects true appreciation of our services by the Court, besides which it does not help those interpreters who are near retirement in terms of their pension pay-out.  As a matter of fact, as our attorney Caren Sencer pointed out to the Region, it holds those employees hostage for a year if they want to take advantage of that one-time bonus. As a result, we are not recommending ratification of this contract. However, because the Region made it clear that their offer would expire that same day, June 27, 2018 at 4:30 p.m., the team felt that that the members deserved the opportunity to let their voices be heard.  We believe we have done as much as we can at the bargaining table.  In order to achieve more, the members have to be willing to mobilize and carry out concerted work actions. Before casting your vote, please carefully read the proposed contract and consider what you are willing to do to improve it.

If the members vote to reject the proposed contract, the Committee will notify the court and we will go back to the bargaining table in an effort to improve the offer. We are not at an impasse and we were not told this was the “last, best and final offer”.

Signed:

Members of the Region 1 CFI Bargaining Committee

Region 1 MOU Draft Document

Region 1 Bargaining Update

June 26 & 27, 2018 Stanley Mosk Courthouse

Your Bargaining Committee met with Region 1 on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in the hopes of finalizing a contract after nearly a year of bargaining.  Our contract expired on June 30, 2017.  At the last session in May we were told that the next available date was not until August 2nd but after vigorous protest from our counsel, we were granted earlier dates.  Court Counsel, Ivette Peña, acted as Region 1 spokesperson, as the usual spokesman, Joe Wiley, was not available either day.

The key issues that were still in dispute surrounded wages and assignments.  As you know, the committee was focused on a wage proposal that additionally included longevity pay (step system).  To that end, until the union's most recent proposal, each proposal made by the bargaining committee included a monetary increase in our salary based on service years.  As a counter, the Court proposed a 2.75% base salary increase upon ratification; a one-time 2% signing bonus for A and C status employees, and $500.00 for F status. Then in the second year of the contract, a 2.5% base salary increase, and 2.25% base salary increase in the third year. The Court’s final wage proposal also included a one-time, non-pensionable, non-base payment on July 15^th, 2019. The breakdown is: 1% for employees with 5 to 9 years of continuous service; 2% for those with 10 to 14 years of continuous service; and 3% to those employees with 15, or more years of continuous service.

Concerning Article 18, Assignments, the Court accepted the Union’s proposal which requires a meet and confer between Management and the Union prior to the implementation of the new assignment scheduling system and would incorporate any agreed upon changes into the MOU.  Over the course of two days of negotiations, the committee was able to formally Tentatively Agree to provisions in the MOU regarding Leaves of Absence, New Employees, and technical updates to the grievance procedure. 

The complete contract will now be sent to TNG for review and approval to present to the Region 1 bargaining unit members for a vote.  This document represents many months of hard work; however, it is not fully endorsed by this bargaining team with regards to Articles 21 (Salary) and 37 (Stewards). Specifically, the team is not satisfied with the singular one-time longevity bonus proposed by the Court; it does not add anything to the base salary (something that has be neglected by the Court for way too long) and does not truly reflect the value of long-time commitment by the interpreters to the Courts. In Article 37 the issue in contention is the LASC’s failure to follow past practice of paying for caucus time to prepare for contract negotiations … something that has been the precedent over the last 15 years.

Thank you Branda Rosas-Almada, Miguel Acevedo, Hernán Vargas, Diana Díaz, Sonia Peralta, James Varese, Marco Larriva, Ismael Carrillo, Chi Choi, Sandra Rodríguez, Ana Placencia, Karmele Landaribar, and Irene Luévano for showing your support by attending the session(s)!  The presence of so many members visibly impressed temporary spokesperson, Ivette Peña.

Be attentive for updates regarding the TNG approval process and bargaining unit contract ratification vote.

Yours in solidarity,

Region 1 Bargaining Update

May 21 and May 22, 2018, Santa Fe Springs 

• SLO  Side Letter relating to benefits
• Article 19.3 side letter relating to cross assignments
• Article 8 - Discipline and Discharge
• Article 22 - Professional Conduct, Standards and Conditions 

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

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.