Following hours of testimony in hearings convened yesterday in downtown Los Angeles by state Sen. Gloria Romero, the 400 striking court interpreters of Los Angeles County have agreed to return to work, probably before the end of the week, union sources reported this afternoon.
Among the less visible employees in the court system, an estimated 75 to 90 percent of the certified interpreters walked off their jobs in early September. They claimed then and now the central issues were “fairness and equal treatment.”
‘Seniority Unrewarded’
Alex Abella of the California Federation of Interpreters told the newspaper that interpreters are the only employees in the court system whose salaries are not linked to experience and seniority.
“Whether you started 20 minutes ago or 20 years ago, you receive the same pay,” Mr. Abella said.
It is unlikely, he indicated, that the strike — lengthy by the most recent labor standards — came much closer to achieving the interpreters’ goal of parity.
But he and others believe their absence negatively affected new and ongoing cases.
Safeguards Sought
Lawyers for the California Federation of Interpreters have been meeting today with “court management” to assure that strikers will not be targeted for retaliation.
Workers long have felt underappreciated and downright mistreated, according to Mr. Abella. Their beef is with judges “who have treated us with arrogance and contempt. A court interpreter is a highly specialized position. The rate of applicants who pass our state exam is even lower than it is for the state bar.
“We thought courts cared for the people they served, but we have found that they don’t.
Specific Training Required
“We are not easily replaceable,” which, Mr. Abella suggested, is a reason interpreters will report back to work. “We are not merely bi-lingual persons. We are fluent in at least three languages, and there are other areas where expertise is demanded from us. Court interpreters must know legal terminology, and they must be able to render into another language all of the subtleties that accompany various kinds of rulings and implications.
“Our strike has had an adverse effect on the court system,” he asserted, “even though they deny it.”
In an effort to underscore the importance of court interpreters, Mr. Abella said that “53 percent of Los Angeles County residents speak a language other than English at home.”
A 20-year veteran as a court interpreter, Mr. Abella is returning to his job “out of economic necessity.”
Critical of Judges
Personally, he added, “I am totally disgusted, and I would not recommend this work for anyone. Judges are so arrogant. A couple of times at the hearings yesterday, they were almost cited for their arrogance.
Mr. Abella is convinced “courts have no regard for the rule of law.”