San Francisco Superior Court clerks called off a strike planned Wednesday over staffing and training issues after their union reached a tentative agreement with court management.
Courtroom clerks, represented by the Service Employees International Union, had been in contract negotiations with court management since September and voted this month to authorize a strike.
Clerks for San Francisco trial court that handles state criminal and civil matters have long raised concerns about inadequate training and understaffing, leading to delayed trials and hearings.
A union spokesperson said court clerks reached a tentative agreement Tuesday evening but couldn’t immediately provide details about the accord. A court spokesperson didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The agreement comes just over a year after some 200 court clerks launched a one-day strike over the same staffing and training concerns.
The union said clerks are shuffled between different courtrooms handling completely different types of cases without adequate training for the positions. The union said in a press release that in the most extreme cases, some defendants have been kept in jail for longer than they should or released without proper supervision as a result of the understaffing issue.
The San Francisco Superior Court has a $76.9 million budget and around 420 employees.
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