San Mateo County Superior Court employees are planning to walk off the job on Monday, Nov. 16, in a labor dispute that has been building over pay, staffing and workload. The court says it will keep every location open regardless, leaning on contingency plans to keep critical operations and essential services running even if no deal is reached before the strike begins.
The planned strike, first reported by SFGATE, involves workers represented by SEIU Local 521, which covers court reporters, clerks, paralegals, accountants and judicial assistants across the county court system. The union says court leadership could still avert the walkout by resuming meaningful negotiations and ending what it describes as unfair labor practices. Union representative Stacy Gaskill said unfair labor practices and a failure to bargain in good faith forced members to prepare to strike, adding that workers' rights cannot continue to be ignored.
At the center of the dispute is a disagreement over how to fix filing backlogs that the union attributes to increased workloads and rising vacancies in court positions. SEIU Local 521 says it is seeking an agreement that addresses workers' concerns, improves staffing and retention, respects job classifications and strengthens court services overall. The union also accuses court management of assigning employees duties outside their job classifications without proper training, on top of failing to bargain in good faith.
Court Says Its Offer Balances Pay With Financial Stability
Court leadership counters that its current offer strikes a balance between fair employee compensation and the court's long-term financial stability, and that the court's own financial strain has to factor into any agreement. Officials point to recent raises as evidence of good faith: court clerks received a 5% salary equity adjustment in 2022, and deputy court clerks, fiscal office specialists and exhibit technicians received a 3% equity adjustment in 2025, on top of cost-of-living adjustments, bonuses, additional leave time and expanded medical coverage in recent years.
Court Executive Officer Jeniffer Alcantara said the court values employees' contributions and remains committed to good-faith negotiations while preserving essential services. Court leadership separately said it remains committed to reaching a fair agreement, even as both sides prepare for Monday's potential disruption.
The court's financial picture adds pressure to the standoff. San Mateo County Superior Court expects to receive $53.5 million in state allocations for fiscal year 2026-27 but estimates its operational needs at $67.3 million for that same period, according to the court's figures reported by SFGATE. Case-clearance rates, meanwhile, have declined about 12% between fiscal years 2022-23 and 2024-25, a trend the union points to as proof that understaffing is already straining the system.
What Happens If The Strike Proceeds
If no agreement is reached before Monday, the court says all locations will remain open and that contingency plans will keep critical operations and essential services running. Emergency domestic violence restraining-order processing, criminal arraignments, custody arraignments and proceedings tied to statutory deadlines will continue regardless of the walkout, court officials said.
Some non-emergency matters may still be rescheduled, and members of the public could see delays in certain services and case processing during the strike. To soften the impact on filings, the court plans to make document drop boxes available at its Redwood City and South San Francisco locations, along with a separate drop box for juvenile filings at the juvenile branch in San Mateo. The court says it has posted strike-day service information on its website for anyone trying to navigate the disruption. Court officials said the goal is to minimize impacts on litigants, attorneys, jurors and the broader community while the two sides keep working toward a negotiated resolution.
Part Of A Wider Pattern Across California Courts
San Mateo's standoff follows a string of similar labor fights in California courthouses this year. In February, about 220 San Francisco court clerks represented by SEIU Local 1021 went on strike after months of stalled contract talks over staffing, scheduling and training, according to The San Francisco Standard, with management there offering a 6.5% wage increase over three years, part of it contingent on additional state funding. In October, Ventura Superior Court workers staged what KEYT described as their first-ever strike, after the court said it had offered a 9% raise over three years along with added healthcare and vacation benefits, according to the Ventura County Star. Roughly 450 Sacramento Superior Court employees represented by United Public Employees also voted to strike on or after Oct. 30, with the court there similarly pledging that all locations would stay open even as some services slowed, per CBS Sacramento.
Whether San Mateo's dispute follows the same path toward a resolution, or stretches on like some of these other standoffs, remains to be seen. For now, Gaskill framed the fight in broader terms, saying the dispute is about the future of the courts and working families' access to justice.
