SAN JOSE — In the latest bit of political theater by striking Santa Clara County court employees, a spokesman for the group hired a casino-party company to set up a craps table Monday in front of the Hall of Justice
The craps table — with three professional dealers — was meant to symbolize what employees say is the administration’s gamble on a new $208 million Family Justice Center in downtown San Jose while employees have gone without a raise in eight years.
On Monday, the fourth day of the walkout, there were signs that the impact of the court’s first strike in 14 years is intensifying. The walkout has disrupted operations at all 11 courthouses, with all but essential hearings postponed. For the first time since the strike started, the court clerk’s office at the Hall of Justice was closed, bringing to eight the number of shuttered clerk’s offices.
In at least one case, court documents were stamped “July 32, 2016,” a date that does not exist, as administrators struggle to fill in for the hundreds of employees out on strike.
Some inmates were not transported to court for probation violation hearings Monday because there were no clerks to fill out the list of defendants to give to the jail. The court has 10 days to arraign them or they will be released.
The clerk’s office at traffic court remained closed, leaving motorists who want to contest tickets but don’t want to post bail without a way to sign promises to appear in court.
“My deadline is tomorrow,” said Amol Ghamakr, a program manager for a tech company, who tried to go to the clerk’s office last week and again Monday.
Court spokesman Joe Macaluso said the court will not consider anyone whose deadline occurs during the strike delinquent. But Ghamakr worries that lines will be particularly long after the strike ends.
Also Monday, a judge who has been overseeing a death penalty murder case in the Hall of Justice wound up substituting for a clerk instead.
Clad in street clothes rather than a black robe, Judge Vanessa A. Zecher tried to keep up with the busy calendar. When a defense lawyer stepped up to the podium and began speaking, she shuffled through a stack of documents, saying, “Hold on. Hold on.”
The lawyer, Erik Johnson, said that proof that his client had completed 88 hours of community service should be in the court file. But retired Judge Thomas Hansen, who was presiding over the calendar while Zecher did paperwork, smiled wryly and said it wasn’t there. “We have a little problem getting things in the court file these days,” he said, referring to the strike. The case was postponed until Aug. 23.
In a short statement Monday, the court did not respond directly to the impact of the strike or the employees association’s argument that the court is gambling on the new justice center. The craps table gimmick cost about $500 and was paid for by Tom Saggau, the spokesman hired by the labor association. The strikers and their supporters, including public defenders, court reporters, prosecutors and others, did not contribute to the cost. The association has set up a Gofundme.com account, “Help the SCPEA Clerks Fund,” which had collected $28,226 by late Monday.
A court spokesman said the administration is not tracking how many of the 383 clerks, janitors, researchers and family law mediators failed to show up to work. The employees association has said about three-quarters of its members are participating in the walkout, which began Wednesday after the two sides reached an impasse over pay increases.
“Despite the ongoing strike, we remain hopeful that the Superior Court Professional Employees Association will agree to participate in mediation, as we have suggested on three separate occasions. Clearly, there is no path forward that does not include participation by a neutral third party,” the court’s statement said.
Last year, the Superior Court Professional Employees Association turned down a net 4.5 percent wage increase over two years. This summer, the court sweetened the deal by adding an immediate 5 percent raise for the 88 percent of workers who have been with the courts for at least six years. In addition, the court offered last year and this summer to give workers an extra 6 percent, which they would have to pay into the state retirement system.
But the association, citing the increased cost of living since 2008, is seeking an additional 3 percent wage hike during the second year of its two-year contract.
Contact Tracey Kaplan at 408-278-3482 and follow her at Twitter.com/tkaplanreport.
