San Francisco court clerks end strike after agreement reached, union says

By Tim Fang

Clerks with the San Francisco Superior Court have announced a tentative agreement to end a two-day strike, the union announced Friday.

Officials with Service Employees International Union 1021, who represents the clerks, said court services would resume as normal Monday morning.

On Thursday, the clerks took to the picket lines over multiple issues, including staffing, worker training and pay. The issues, they said, had contributed to a backlog of cases, along with delays and mistakes.

Both sides had been in a negotiation tug of war since October 2024, when clerks first went on strike for one day over similar issues.

According to the union, court management resumed negotiations Thursday afternoon and made what they described as “important concessions” on cost-of-living adjustments and time off. The court also agreed to address staffing and training issues to resolve the backlogs.

“We convened our chapter membership and reached consensus that it was the right thing to do for our families and the public to recommend this agreement for ratification and return to work on Monday morning,” said Rob Borders, a member of the bargaining team and a clerk at the Hall of Justice. “We feel that we made our voices heard and look forward to getting back to serving the public.”

According to the union, the tentative agreement would still need to be ratified by a majority of about 220 clerks before being adopted as a contract.