Courts, interpreters end labor dispute

Court interpreters and Superior Court officials in coastal Northern California counties have agreed on a labor contract providing a 21 percent wage increase over four years, ending a yearlong dispute that included a series of oneday walkouts.

A majority of the 142 members of the California Federation of Interpreters voted to approve the agreement last week, and court officers in 12 counties endorsed it this week.

Officials said it would raise interpreters’ maximum wages from $76,419 to $92,888 a year by September 2020, though they will still be paid less than interpreters in federal courts or private contractors. Wages have been frozen since last October, when the previous contract expired.

Interpreters translate for witnesses and other court participants who speak little or no English. The contract covers a region that includes the Bay Area and coastal counties from Monterey to the Oregon border.

The union led walkouts in many of the counties in April and July. The union said its members had suffered a 4 to 6 percent loss in take-home pay this year because of mandatory increases in pension contributions, a loss the courts had offset for other employees by increasing their pay.

The new contract does not address that issue but includes a “re-opener” that would allow another round of wage negotiations in July 2019.

The agreement “represents an important step in equalizing the treatment that staff interpreters receive as compared to other court employees,” said Camille Taiara, a union representative. “More work remains to be done, however, to erase the disparate treatment of staff court interpreters and bring our wages up to par with market demands.”

Michael Yuen, executive officer of the San Francisco Superior Court and chairman of court administrators for the region, said, “We are pleased that our interpreter employees will receive a well-deserved wage package. These professionals ensure that non-English speakers are able to access justice in our courts.”