Alameda County court workers get 3% salary hike after budget help

Alameda County Superior Court has struck a deal with its employees that will give most of them a 3% salary increase following 10 months of negotiations and two days of strikes that impacted court proceedings in February.

The salary increases were made possible after the Legislature approved a budget that restored much of the $97 million cut from state courts last year, a media release from the court explained Tuesday. If Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the budget as expected, the Alameda County court would have about 65% of its budget restored from last year's $4.4 million cut, the release said.

Most court employees will see a 3% salary increase and a one-time stipend in support of employee retention of $2,500 plus 1% of an employee's yearly salary, according to the court. The contracts also allow for a 0.5% salary increase in each of the next two fiscal years for every $1 million in additional unrestricted funding the court may receive from the state.

But the media release said court reporters, who are represented by the Alameda County Official Court Reporters Association and are compensated largely through a different funding method, are not included in this round of salary increases. Court reporters have a separate salary increase schedule, according to the court.

"We've always maintained that our goal was to provide salary increases to our employees. After enduring the budget cuts of last year, that did not seem possible," Presiding Judge Thomas Nixon said in the media release. "Every member of the court staff is critical to our mission of providing equal justice to all and their work is worthy of proper respect and compensation.

Kasha Clarke, a courtroom clerk and chapter president of SEIU Local 1021, one of the unions involved in the negotiations and the two-day strike in February, said the employees "didn't get everything we wanted."

"This contract was a huge hill to climb," Clarke said in an emailed statement Tuesday. "We were able to get some big wins that will make a difference for our members and the community we serve.

"I'll never forget our strike and the way it proved to management that we know how to organize, and we will organize, and we will shut the court system down to get what we need to do our jobs and keep the justice system working for everyone."