San Francisco courtroom clerks authorize second strike in a year

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — San Francisco Superior Court clerks overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike Friday, accusing their management of refusing to address concerns that led to a strike last fall.

Clerks represented by Service Employees International Union, Local 1021, voted by 98% to authorize a strike. They say that chronic understaffing and training gaps have led to increased workloads, case delays and errors.

“The situation is even worse than it was at this time last year,” said Rob Borders, a courtroom clerk at the San Francisco Hall of Justice and union negotiator.

“We still have no meaningful training," he added. “They’re still assigning people to courtrooms they’re not adequately trained in.”

The clerks staged a one-day strike in October 2024 after their contract expired the previous month. More than 99% of clerks voted to authorize the one-day strike, which included roughly 200 workers from both the civil and criminal divisions.

Workers on the picket line told Courthouse News that their employers routinely overworked clerks and expected them to do work outside their expertise without proper training, which resulted in late or lapsed paperwork that caused over 70 misdemeanor cases to be dismissed in August 2024.

In January, the clerks reached a one-year agreement that included language to close loopholes that have allowed positions to remain vacant when clerks were promoted or temporarily moved into other positions. It also mandated that court management provide ongoing, quality training for all court employees and have training manuals in place by May 1.

However, one year later, clerks say their management has not made a “serious, good-faith” effort to meaningfully address their concerns.

“This time at the table is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” said Ashley Hebert, a courtroom clerk at the Hall of Justice and a member of the union bargaining team.

Hebert, who also negotiated for the union last fall, said the bargaining team representing their management does not have courtroom experience.

“None of our frontline managers are there. The people who know there are too many cases, the people who know what it takes to process the case, none of those people are at the table. So they are just refusing common-sense proposals that would help the court run so much more efficiently,” she said.

The union said that they have been in contract negotiations since September and attended negotiations on Friday. While there is no definite date set for a strike, it could start as early as next week.

During last year’s strike, the court remained open for mandated essential and emergency services and was operated by a skeleton crew of supervisors and junior clerks.

The San Francisco Superior Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Follow @mhattridge_