Region 2 Bargaining Committee

Positions Elected by Acclamation:

Headway in Protecting Unit Work for Staff Interpreters – Kern County 

On September 15, 2020 CFI filed a grievance against Kern County Superior Court for hiring independent contractors over the 100 day limit. On Tuesday, September 29, union steward Maria Skaggs, and local board members, Janet Hudec and Mike Ferreira, met with the Court to discuss the issue highlighted in the grievance. 

During the meeting, the administration admitted not complying with the law and our MOU. The administration agreed to keep track of the number of days each o independent contractor works for the county, so as to avoid violating the time limit allowed by law and stated in the Region 3 contract. Two of the independent contractors who had been regularly employed by the Court will not be able to work until next year in compliance with the law. The administration also accepted to pay the lost wages of intermittent Los Angeles Court employee Stephanie Wohl, as she did not get a cross-assignment for that day.  

Furthermore, the administration will assume responsibility for giving priority to as-needed/intermittent employees of other counties before hiring independent contractors. The administration will have the option of using an independent contractor only when the fees of a pro tempore interpreter are unreasonable in comparison to the fees of an independent contractor. 

In having the Court admit to and correct its error, as well as compensating Stephanie Wohl, this Local makes clear to the Court that it will do whatever it takes to protect its members’ labor rights under the Region 3 MOU, and interpreter laws. 

Region 2 Bargaining Committee Elections

Dear Region 2 Members: 

Congratulations on your selection of a Region 2 Board Representative! However, we still have some unfinished business to take care of; namely, selecting a bargaining team to prepare for and bargain, not only the new contract, but also handle the issue that has come up of negotiating the impacts of Video Remote Interpreting. The Region has asked to meet and confer over the impacts of VRI and has given the Local until November 24^thto respond. The best people to actually carry out meet & confers and bargaining that are those who live and work in Region 2. To that end, we are officially opening nominations for a your region’s bargaining team.

This is officially opening up a call for nominations for five members in good standing to be the Region 2 bargaining team. The Bargaining Team’s term of office will be until the end of the new contract that is negotiated; the elected team members, together with the Executive Board, also attend to meet and confers that may arise during their tenure.

We are encouraging people to make contact with anyone they wish to nominate, and ascertain if they are willing to run and serve on a bargaining team. 

Nominations will close at 5:00 PM on October 9^th of this year. This ballot will be conducted via electronic vote, so make sure that the local has your correct email on file. If there is any question as to that, please call or send an email to [email protected], and be sure to put “Email Update” in the subject line. The deadline for casting the electronic ballot will be one week from the close of nominations, presently set for 5:00 PM, October 16^th, 2020. 

If there are only five nominees, and they accept the nomination, they will be declared to be the bargaining team by acclamation, and there will be no ballots sent out for voting.

We look forward to meeting the new team soon. 

In solidarity, 

Michael Ferreira 
President 

Interim Elections for Region 2 Board Representative

Tally Location: Local Offices Santa Fe Springs, California 

The undersigned acted as Election Officials or Observers at the tally of the ballots cast in the election referenced above. 

We certify that the ballot tally was fairly and accurately conducted, the secrecy of the ballots was maintained, and that the election results were as indicated below.

BALLOT RECAP 

Number of Ballots:                              66

Valid Ballots Counted:                        54

Totally Void Ballots:                           12*

Unresolved Challenged Ballots:         0

Total Ballots Cast:                               54

*These ballots were rejected as they pertained to the previous election for R1 Board representative. 

ELECTION RESULTS

Candidate, Region 2 Board Representative                                      Votes

Kristina Ramsey                                                                                 36

Kristin Nickel                                                                                      18

OBSERVERS ELECTION OFFICIALS

Members present via Zoom Meeting (COVID19 Pandemic)
Kristina Ramsey, Sofia Oñate, Wawi Gorriz-Ramallo, Veronica Bonifacio

Election Committee: