OAKLAND — At Oakland’s downtown courthouses on Wednesday, some records offices were closed and some courtrooms dark as a union strike over contract negotiations brought court proceedings to a crawl.
Outside the Hayward Hall of Justice, clerks, records custodians and legal assistants represented by SEIU Local 1021 chanted “union power” and vowed they would not return to work until the Alameda County Superior Court ended what union leaders called “unfair labor practices.”
Court officials, meanwhile, strongly pushed back against SEIU’s claims of short-staffing, inadequate cost-of-living adjustments and a failure to fully and properly train employees, saying those issues have not been central to the ongoing negotiations that began last September and appear to now have reached an impasse.
“We’re here to serve the public, and when we don’t have the tools to do our jobs, it affects the public,” said Kasha Clarke Young, a 20-year county employee and chapter president of the local union. “The majority of the complaints from employees are around training. We’ve had several people quit because of the lack of training.”
On Wednesday, the superior court instituted an “emergency operations plan” to utilize managers and non-union employees to keep critical cases on schedule and avoid the worst should the strike continue. Outside of the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse on Fallon Street, dozens of courtroom clerks, records custodians, and legal assistants marched carrying signs that read, “Where’s the fairness?” and “Fair contract now!!!” while passing motorists honked in support.
“No wages, no justice, no contract – no peace,” the workers chanted.
The current contract proposal – an immediate 1% raise and stipend after a new contract is approved, followed by a 10% raise over the next three years – has not found support among union negotiators. More than 98% of union members voted to authorize a strike to force the court’s hand. Union representatives declined to state their desired wage increase, instead focusing on alleged unfair labor practices.
“If the Court were to provide union membership with the salary increases proposed by their bargaining team, it would require the Court to lay off a significant number of staff members,” the superior court’s press release issued Wednesday said. “In fact, the Judicial Council of California estimates that based on the current caseload at the Superior Court of Alameda County, our Court is overstaffed by more than 100 employees.”
Clerks earn an average of $75,062 per year with “generous benefits” and a pension upon retirement, according to court officials.
But Anthony Mirande, a member of the union’s bargaining team, said he was focused on improving labor practices and voiced a desire for better staffing and more training for employees working at the courthouses. He said that going without those benefits would lead to fewer services for courtroom visitors and incorrect court filings, specifically noting a proposal to cut in-person translation services for people obtaining records, in favor of a phone service.
“Management is not coming to grips with the needs of the public,” Mirande said. “We’re doing three and four people’s jobs. The people are tired of having more and more work put on them, and it’s affecting services for the public.”
The failure to provide these services could have wide, detrimental impacts on the public and public safety, court officials said. Domestic violence orders could fail to be issued and some felons may be released from jail if their case is not heard before state-mandated deadlines as a result of the strike.
“Over the last year, we have done everything in our power to keep all our employees working by making decisions to cut costs rather than lay off employees,” Alameda County Presiding Judge Thomas Nixon said. “I cannot stress enough that this isn’t a matter of us not wanting to give them a raise and that we’re somehow hoarding a pot of money. Just the opposite.”
The Alameda County court’s budget was slashed by $4.4 million last year, part of $97 million in cuts across the state’s trial courts. Officials called the situation “dire.” The cuts were achieved with furloughs, a hiring freeze on existing positions and the elimination of some vacant court positions, according to the court’s news release.
Inside Oakland’s two courthouses, numerous courtrooms were void and dark without court clerks to record proceedings. In the few departments that held hearings on Wednesday, attendees reported chaotic and sluggish proceedings, with supervisors filling in for court clerks and at least one judge filling out minute orders by hand. A sign outside of the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse warned of limited operations, with the criminal and civil clerk’s offices closed for the day. Mirande said that they planned to strike “as long as it takes until we get out contract.”
Clarke Young said the court needs to bargain in good faith and address long-standing issues in staffing levels and employee training. The strike, she said, is an effort to show the chaos that will result if court workers are not treated as a vital part of Alameda County’s court system.
“We’ve been letting the public know that we are out here because of them so that we can have the court prioritize the worker, so that we can do what we’re supposed to do, which is to prioritize the public,” Clarke Young said. “We’re the ones that keep the wheels turning.”
