Work at the San Francisco Superior Courthouse may be coming to a halt Thursday morning as nearly 200 court clerks go on strike for one day.
The single-day strike comes just two weeks after the union representing the court clerks voted to authorize the strike. In that time, union negotiators still haven’t been able to reach a deal with court management, saying they have refused to negotiate in good faith.
The union representing the court clerks says staffing, technology and training issues are leading to a backlog in the courts, delaying both civil and criminal cases. This has caused more than 70 misdemeanor cases to be thrown out.
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Because of the staffing shortage, they say defendants are sitting in jail longer than they should have to, and victims and their families are waiting longer than they should have to for their day in court.
“We’re just doing this for one day and then going back to the table tomorrow, and to let management know, ‘Hey, we did this once, but next time it might not be a one day strike,” Clerk Ben Thompson told ABC7 News.