Region 1 Bargaining Update
May 21 and May 22, 2018, Santa Fe Springs
The Bargaining Committee met with Court Administration in Santa Fe Springs for a two-day marathon session. Today's session was marked by discord as we continue to get stonewalled as our reasonable requests continue to be dismissed with very little engagement on their part.
The following is a synopsis of the latest developments in our contract negotiations:
Tentative Agreements
Court Administration and your Bargaining Team reached the following tentative agreements:
- 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
Article 21 - Salary
The wage proposal has not yet been resolved. We continue to vigorously pursue longevity increases (steps). On Monday Region 1 proposed an additional .75% over three years (an additional .25% each year) contingent upon our abandoning steps. Previously we proposed a 2% adjustment for those certified/registered in more than one language. We then countered with 1% for each additional language pair for all hours paid and Region 1 accepted.
Article 23 - Education and Training Opportunities
There was some movement on the payment of annual renewal fees and we continue to push for a more inclusive offer. In addition, Region 1 offered increased in-house CIMCE credits up to 15 hours over two calendar years.
Article 18 - Interpreter Assignments
Several times we have attempted to address the docking of pay for employees who receive same-day assignments and our efforts were rejected.
Upcoming Bargaining dates
The Court has decided that other open contract negotiations are more important than meeting with us. As a result, the earliest date we could agree to is August 2nd at an as-yet undetermined location at 10 am. They refused to commit to more that one day. “A” and “C” status interpreters should send in their RTOs 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
Caren Sencer, Spokesperson
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Region 1 Bargaining Update
May 11, 2018, Santa Fe Springs
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:
Caren Sencer, our spokesperson, has returned from bereavement leave and was present at today's session.
Tentative Agreements
Court Administration and your Bargaining Team reached the following tentative agreements:
- Article 4 - Authorized Agents
- Article 16 - Employment Status
- Article 28.6 - Leaves of Absence
- Santa Barbara Side Letter - Benefits
Article 23 - Education and Training Opportunities
The Court clarified that the up to 6 hours of continuing education offered by the Court in a calendar year qualify for CIMCE credit.
The Region is studying our proposal for reimbursement of continuing education costs.
Article 18 – Assignments
The Region continues to study our proposal to remove this subject from current bargaining with an eye towards reopening this issue when the computerized assignment system is ready to look at.
Article 21 - Salary
The wage proposal has not yet been resolved. We continue to vigorously pursue longevity increases (steps). At the last session we proposed a 2% adjustment for those certified/registered in more than one language. Today the Court countered with 1% for each additional language pair. We are studying their response.
Article 28 - Leaves of Absence
Traditionally the Court has paid for caucus time for up to five members of the Bargaining Committee to prepare for negotiations. In 2017 Mr. Wiley (Region 1 Spokesperson) said that the Courts would not pay for this essential time. The issue has continued to be raised throughout this round of negotiations. Today Mr. Wiley stated that no additional organizational leave would be granted through the LA County Courts until the Local has paid the $11,217.29 at issue here.
Upcoming Bargaining dates
We hope to see you at our upcoming bargaining dates which have been confirmed for Monday, May 21 & Tuesday, May 22 at the Santa Fe Springs Local office at 10 am. “A” and “C” status interpreters should send in their RTOs today to observe the negotiations first-hand.
Bargaining Meeting
You will have an opportunity to meet this Saturday with members of the Bargaining Committee for a “State of Bargaining” report. We will give an overview of where things presently stand in the negotiations process, and we will address questions you may have. Remember to review the Bargaining Chart available in the Members Only section of the CFI member website. The chart will be updated to include today's results as soon as possible.
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 
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Region 1 Bargaining Update
March 28, 2018, Stanley Mosk Courthouse
We would like to give a special shout out to our members Cris Bain-Borrrego (F), Victoria Caro (F), Angélica Narváez (F), Marco Larriva (A), Eliza Chávez-Fraga (F), Julie Drucker (F), and Gabrielle Veit-Bermúdez (A) for their generous support today. Your bargaining team is grateful for the support and the opportunity to use attendees as a resource of information.
Joe E. Wiley started the session today by offering us the following wage proposal:
- 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.
These increments represent a total wage increase of 6.75% over the life of a three-year contract (counting 36 months starting from the moment of ratification).
Administration rejected our earlier economic proposal of January 22nd which included steps and a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) as a permanent component of the wage structure in our MOU. Mr. Wiley stated the following reasons for doing so:
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No other bargaining unit in the Courts has a COLA, which is an increase tied to the CPI (Consumer Price Index).
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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 .
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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.
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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.
After caucusing among ourselves, the bargaining team countered with the following wage proposal:
- 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.
Our next bargaining session will be held on April 30th, at 10:00 am, at a location yet to be determined.
The team continues to encourage members to support negotiations with administration by attending a bargaining session. We hope to see you there. For those of you who find it difficult to attend a session, there are many other ways to help in our collective efforts to obtain a righteous contract. Contact the local at [email protected], or one of the bargaining team members to see how you can get involved.
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
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Results of Local 39000 Local Elections
March 29, 2018
On March 29th the ballots in the election for a new Local Officers and Executive Board Representatives (Regions 1, 2, 3 and Freelance) were counted at the CWA District 9 offices in Santa Fe Springs.
Total Number of Ballots Issued 850
Number of Ballots Returned 520
Local President: Mary Lou Aranguren
Local Vice President: Juan Ramirez
Local Secretary: Delia Castro
Local Treasurer: Katy Van Sant
Region 1 Representative: Anne McGinn
Region 2 Representative: Daniel Navarro
Region 3 Representative: Tyler Nguyen
Freelance Representative: Marianne Franco
Members of the Local Election Committee:
Jackie Ruiz
Chair
Pedro Sahagun
Member
Anna Behnken
Member
CFI Local 39000 Election 2018 |
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 |
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