Zero Preparedness, Zero Proposal

San Francisco (Nov. 15, 2019) _ Region 2 courts came to our first wage reopener session unprepared to bargain. 
 
Prior to Wednesday's session, our committee spent three full days and hundreds of hours preparing for bargaining. We were armed with a detailed wage proposal and handouts with incontrovertible facts supporting the need for a substantial wage increase.

View, print and share our federal pay parity fact sheet.
 
The courts' bargaining team arrived at the table with no wage proposal of their own and no response to our wage proposal. 
 
Our lead spokesperson Laurie Burgess reminded the Courts of their obligation to follow the law and provide the information we had requested well in advance. When she suggested that they were showing bad faith by coming to the table without an offer, the courts' lead negotiator accused her of taking a "nasty" tone. After a short exchange, he said they were done for the day, snapped shut his laptop, and the Region walked away from the table at 1:20pm, a mere 16 minutes after reconvening for the afternoon session.
 
Region 2 has said they will have a response to our proposal at the next bargaining session on Wednesday, Nov. 20. 
 
Your team will continue to fight the good fight. We count on your ongoing support, and were inspired by seeing all your photos from today. Don't forget to wear red to work every Wednesday during these important wage negotiations.
 
Your Bargaining Committee,

Margaret Layman
Juan Jose Negrete
Shannon Raintree
Kristina Ramsey 
Margo Seely