SF Superior Court members go on strike
The successful one-day strike shut down nearly all court business, including the high-profile Momeni trial

Article October 28, 2024

Thursday, October 24, the San Francisco Superior Court was forced to cancel trials, hearings, arraignments, and nearly all other court business as about 200 courtroom clerks went on strike.

At the heart of the unfair labor practice (ULP) strike was court management’s refusal to negotiate in good faith, particularly on the inadequate staffing and training issues that have already caused over 70 misdemeanor cases to be dismissed and that continue to cause unnecessary delays and errors that can be very consequential to people’s lives.

“We’ve been understaffed for a very long time, so we’re spread very thin,” bargaining team member Rob Borders, a courtroom clerk of 10 years at the Hall of Justice, told Mission Local. “And the result of that is, a lot of times we’re asked to go cover in courtrooms that we haven’t been trained in.”

“There’s a parole court, there’s motions to revoke probation, there’s domestic violence, there’s drug court…there’s all kinds of courts,” bargaining team member Rodrigo Lopez told the San Francisco Chronicle. “And we’re not properly cross-trained to be able to just walk into a court and do our job.”

The picket lines started before 5 a.m. at the Hall of Justice and around 7 a.m. at the civil court at 400 McAllister. The strike shut down all the courtrooms, including the high-profile trial of Nima Momeni for the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee.

The striking clerks garnered vocal, visible support from the court community, from court reporters represented by IFPTE Local 21 to attorneys, all the way up to Public Defender Mano Raju and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who joined the picket line during the lunchtime rally.

“Courthouse managers need to come back to the table as soon as possible and negotiate in good faith with the clerks,” DA Jenkins said in a statement. “Ensuring that we have appropriate staffing levels and access to training and resources for the clerks is fundamental to a well functioning justice system.”

The bargaining team was back at the table on Friday and everyone else was back at work—for now.

“We were really moved and encouraged by the massive outpouring of support we saw during the strike from the court community,” said Rob Borders Friday afternoon. “We came back to the table today hopeful that management had finally gotten the message that the courts can’t run without us, and that our current working conditions are unsustainable—otherwise, we wouldn’t have sacrificed a day’s pay to be on a picket line.

“Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. We are disappointed that management is still not negotiating in good faith and does not seem to share our sense of urgency in getting this resolved.

“We are absolutely prepared to go back out on strike if we don’t see more progress on our issues than what we have seen so far. While we regret any inconvenience a strike causes the public, we are fully committed to getting the staffing and training needed to provide the level and quality of service the San Francisco community needs and deserves.”

Check out some of the media coverage of the strike here: