Doubling up on court cases and continued understaffing are just some of the complaints that led San Francisco Superior Court employees represented by the Service Employees International Union 1021 to authorize a strike on Thursday, according to the union.
Clerks and others walked off the job in protest of what they say is the courts’ representatives’ refusal to negotiate in good faith over what employees say are chronic understaffing issues that are putting clerks in situations they are not adequately trained for and leading to threats to constitutional rights.
The dispute comes a year after a strike in 2024 over the same issues.
“The situation is even worse than it was at this time last year,” said Rob Borders, a courtroom clerk for the Superior Court who is part of the union’s negotiating team. “We still have no meaningful training. They’re still assigning people to courtrooms they’re not adequately trained in.”
He said negotiations to resolve the strike last year included an agreement to place reference binders in courtrooms for clerks who were undertrained, but those binders still had not been produced. He also said senior clerks were not involved in their production.
The union alleges the court is doubling up on trials to get them started faster, but holding two per day in the same courtroom, essentially holding half-day trials that will double the time trials take.
Among other complaints, SEIU 1021 said in a statement that the practice was unfair to jurors.
A spokesperson for the Superior Court did not respond to a request on Sunday for a response to the union’s accusations or vote.
The union chapter voted 98% to authorize a strike if an agreement can’t be reached. The two parties have been in talks for a new contract since September, according to the union.