400 Court Reporters Stage One-Day Walkout

Los Angeles County’s spate of labor unrest rolled through the judicial system Thursday, as more than 400 court reporters went on a one-day strike for higher wages.

The walkout slowed but did not cripple court operations, which had been curtailed by the start of the Jewish high holidays.

Reporters for Municipal and Superior courts hit the streets as still disgruntled children’s social workers held a final noisy rally before preparing to return to work today without a settlement.

Potentially the most damaging job action by county workers was temporarily averted, as representatives for 6,000 nurses and supervisors returned to the bargaining table and shelved a strike that had been scheduled to start Thursday. A walkout at public clinics and hospitals is still possible next week.

Courthouses around the county employed electronic recording systems, dispatching routine matters without a stenographic record and, in at least one civil case, allowing the litigants to hire a private court reporter.

Many courtrooms were closed as employees celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. In Santa Monica, eight of 19 courtrooms were dark. Others sharply curtailed calendars, as many lawyers took the day off.

In Compton Superior Court, one stenographer ignored the walkout and came to work so a murder trial would not be interrupted. In Malibu, Superior Court Judge James A. Albracht and his bailiff pitched in to answer phones and take notes. The Malibu court’s regular reporter was striking, and the court clerk was out for Rosh Hashana.

“I didn’t even bother wearing a robe. I just put my sport coat on and went to work,” said Albracht. “I don’t know that I’d want to do it every day, but we got by fine.”

Not all courtrooms were able to smooth over gaps so easily. At the Criminal Courts Building downtown, jurors in a murder case were dismissed before noon.

Representatives of the 320 reporters in Los Angeles Superior Court and 105 in various Municipal courts said they want a 12% pay raise over three years; the county is offering 10%.

Court reporters make $51,380 to $60,467 a year. They also sell transcripts of court proceedings, bringing in additional income.

But after five years without a raise, the reporters said they will settle for nothing less than the 12% package that deputy sheriffs and other county employees have been promised.

“I have a problem with our court administrators saying ‘You get 10%,’ while everyone else gets more,” said Christine Roam, chairwoman of the negotiating committee for Superior Court reporters who are members of Service Employees International Union Local 660. “Our battle cry today is, ‘No contract, no record!’ ”

But county spokeswoman Sandra M. Davis said all workers are being asked to accept a 10% raise, unless they can show a particular inequity compared to others who work in similar jobs. “And our court reporters are the highest paid in the state,” Davis said.

Outside the headquarters of the Department of Children and Family Services, social workers staged a final rally before preparing to return to work today.

The social workers said excessive workloads--which they contend endanger the abused and neglected children they oversee--are their foremost concern.

Workers said their request for a smaller pay hike than other employees, 8% over three years, reflects the preeminent interest that they put in the caseload issue. Nearly half of 1,552 front-line workers are over the caseload “cap” set in their last contract. And those limits are 20% to 25% above the limits that are preferred in their profession.

Despite a recent rise in hiring, the department needs to do more to attract and retain social workers, the union said.

“We don’t have the time to go out and do home visits and spend time to see how the children are doing,” said Asaye Tsegga, a social worker who said that paperwork takes up 70% of his time. “I work Saturday and Sunday, and sometimes until 9 or 10 at night.”

Peter Digre, director of the Department of Children and Family Services, said caseloads have been driven up by unforeseeable events, such as spiraling child abuse reporting. He said he will add 300 workers to the department’s ranks of 3,090 in the next year.

But attrition in the department increased by more than 70% from 1995 to 1996. Workers said the defections reflect the anxiety of working in a department overloaded with cases and managed by a punitive administration. Department spokesman Schuyler Sprowles attributed the loss of veteran workers to the healthier job climate in the private sector.

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Times staff writer Joe Mozingo contributed to this story.