SFGate.com

July 28, 2017

 

 

Foreign-language interpreters walked off their jobs at courtrooms in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties Friday in a dispute over pay and benefits.

 

The interpreters’ contract with courts in 12 Northern California counties expired Sept. 30. Since then, there have been sporadic, unsuccessful negotiations between the union, which says its members are paid far less than federal court interpreters and state contractors, and officials of courts that are struggling with shortages in state funding.

 

Interpreters walked out at midmorning Friday for a noon rally outside the state Judicial Council office in San Francisco, then returned to work at midafternoon as contract negotiations resumed. The two sides made “some progress” in nearly three hours of talks but failed to reach an agreement, said Mary Lou Aranguren, lead negotiator for the California Federation of Interpreters union.

 

Interpreters translate for witnesses and other court participants who speak little or no English. The employees, mostly women and minorities, are paid about $36 an hour, compared with $52 an hour for those who do the same work in federal court, Aranguren said.

 

She said court officials are offering pay increases of 20 percent over four years, while the union is seeking an additional 4 percent raise this year. Aranguren said the employees have suffered a 4 to 6 percent loss in take-home pay this year because of mandatory increases in their pension contributions to pay for future improvements in retirement benefits. She said the courts have raised pay for other workers affected by the pension payments but have refused to do so for interpreters.

 

Aranguren said the courts are also proposing lower pay for part-timers, who make up almost one-third of the interpreters, and different pay levels among the 12 counties in the region. “We say we have a right to uniform compensation under the law,” she said.

 

The interpreters gained support in April from six Bay Area legislators, all Democrats, who said in a letter to court officials that the pay issue was “more critical than ever ... at a time when immigrant communities are vulnerable.”

 

San Francisco Superior Court officials declined to comment, citing the negotiations. In April, when interpreters held a one-day walkout, Michael Yuen, the court’s chief executive officer and chairman of court administrators for the region, described the contract offer as “generous.”

 

Aranguren said participation in Friday’s walkout was unanimous, or nearly so, for union-affiliated interpreters employed by the four counties: 19 in San Francisco, 41 in Alameda County, 14 in Contra Costa County and four in Marin County.

 

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko

 

 

 

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