The three most important issues interpreters in Region 3 face are: early release without pay or advanced notice; implementation of Video Remote Interpreting without CFI’s involvement and the lack of a wage increase.

No agreement was reached today in the mediation session.

The bargaining team and the courts’ negotiating team will return to mediation on June 17 in Sacramento.

In exchange for the committee’s proposed compromise on VRI, the court administration withdrew the proposal to release interpreters at 3 p.m. without pay or advance notice.

The Union had proposed 2.5% Cost of Living Allowances each year and a compromise on VRI, but the Region’s negotiator rejected the raise and reiterated that there would be no agreement with a wage increase for interpreters.

The tentative agreement the committees came to includes the following:

•  Full time members would receive three $1,000 bonuses, one upon ratification, one in fall 2013, and one in fall 2014. Bonuses on the same schedule would be $750 for part timers and $500 for intermittent interpreters.
•  Dual-language interpreters would receive a 10% pay differential for each day that they are assigned to provide services in two languages in which they are qualified to work.
•  Continuing education reimbursement will go up to $750 every two years (and remain prorated for part time employees) and can be taken on a biannual basis.
• Any layoffs would be by strict seniority.
• Modification of unit work language stating courts can assign additional “interpreter services as required.”

CFI will schedule a ratification meeting with members to discuss and vote on the tentative agreement

Daniel Navarro, Fanny Suarez, Manti Henriquez and Eric Bishop outside the Hall of Justice in San Francisco.

Court Interpreters handed out flyers and held up signs outside courthouses throughout Northern California and the Central Valley on Tuesday to inform judges, attorneys, clerks and other colleagues about the court administrations’ detrimental proposals.

Some interpreters began the morning by handing out flyers before work, others used their lunchtime to leaflet as people went in and out of the courthouses.

The leafletting provided an opportunity for interpreters to explain to court colleagues what is going on in bargaining. Many  court workers expressed their support and questioned how courts could maintain due process without a live interpreter available. Several asked how to best support interpreters.

One of the flyers explains court administrators’ proposals to send interpreters home early without pay or advance notice and implement Video Remote Interpreting carte blanche. Another flyer reminds attorneys to not waive interpreters and to always ask for a certified or registered interpreter.

Leafletting and wearing red on Wednesdays are just two of several mobilizing activities interpreters in Regions 2 and 3 have been participating in as part of their fight for a fair contract. Region 2 bargains Wednesday and Region 3 goes to mediation on Thursday.

See more photos from Tuesday’s leafletting here.

Part Time Faculty, Translation & Interpretation Program

Job Description:

Established 30 years ago, The National Hispanic University (NHU) provides accessible and affordable quality education for underserved students. Through innovation, engagement and student-centered learning, The National Hispanic University, a fully accredited university, is fostering successful academic and economic futures of its students.

Contributing Faculty members serve in a part-time capacity to educate National Hispanic University students by effectively and proficiently delivering information, feedback, and critique in thoughtful, carefully formulated, well written, and timely communications. This is accomplished in an environment that is respectful of student, the Faculty Member, National Hispanic University, and the discipline in which the Faculty Member is involved. Faculty Members are expected to adhere to all National Hispanic University expectations, which are set forth to the Faculty Member at the start of his/her employment with the University.
These positions are based on the NHU campus in San Jose, California.

Courses may include but not limited to:

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Training
All new Faculty Members receive specific training from National Hispanic University in teaching techniques, specifics of the policies, procedures and degree programs in which they are going to teach, socialization into the National Hispanic University culture, assessment of academic integrity of student work and research supervision of research capstones where indicated by program.
Course Teaching
Faculty Members are assigned courses that are taught in a classroom setting.
Knowledge Area
Faculty Members are responsible for the provision of timely feedback, approval, assessment, and evaluation of each Student’s work within the classroom.
Faculty are expected to attend to selective professional workshops organized by the University.

TECHNICAL, MANAGERIAL, and PEOPLE SKILLS REQUIRED
To perform this job successfully an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Incumbents will be evaluated, in part, based on performance of each essential function. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:
• Masters Degree required in Education or English and Spanish from an accredited university, Doctorate preferred.
• Practical experience as a translator and interpreter
• Previous teaching experience in interpretation/translation, linguistics, Spanish, English, ESL, Composition and Grammar at the University Level
• Strong background in Translation & Interpretation theory and techniques
• Bilingual in English and Spanish
• Experience working in multicultural settings
• Certified by the State of California in Translation/Interpretation and United States courts (Desirable)
LICENSURE and/or CERTIFICATION

Faculty Members must be appropriately credentialed, possess an earned degree in the discipline being taught, and may be expected to be licensed or license-eligible in order to teach in specific programs. Faculty Members must maintain their licenses and any appropriate certifications in order to continue to teach at National Hispanic University. Faculty Members are also expected to maintain currency with research by reviewing articles, journals, and presentations. If participating in research, the Faculty Member may publish and acknowledge National Hispanic University.

The National Hispanic University is an equal opportunity employer.

Contact:

Margaret Bonanno-Paa
443-627-7297
margaret.bonanno-paa@laureate.net

See Purgatorio at CFI’s annual conference this October. Two hours of self-study CIMCE credit for Friday night screening plus Q&A with the filmmaker, free for members.

In his latest film Purgatorio, interpreter and documentary filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes takes us on a journey into the heart of the border.

Purgatorio is set to make its premiere US screening at the prestigious LA Film Festival next month and compete in the documentary category. The festival runs from June 13-23.

“It’s an amazing national premiere, one that will introduce the American public to a new way of seeing the border,” said Reyes, a CFI member who works at the Superior Court of Merced County.

Purgatorio. A film by CFI Member Rodrigo Reyes.

For Purgatorio, Reyes set out to capture the compelling characters and broken landscapes of the vast US-Mexico border. The film’s brutal shoot had Reyes traveling in an old van for three weeks, making his way from Tijuana, through Arizona, El Paso, Ciudad Juárez and all the way to Big Bend National Park in Texas.

The objective, Reyes said, is to help American audiences experience the border before settling on their political opinion about it.

“I set out to make a film that captured the soul of the border. I wanted to bring people there, stepping over any political agenda or activism, so that people could really feel the chaotic reality of this strange place,” he said.

Reyes credits his experience working as a medical and court interpreter with helping him stay focused during filming.

Rodrigo Reyes

“Interpreters have to keep their cool and function in high-stress situations, using highly specialized cognitive abilities regardless of the seriousness of a crime or the emotional nature of testimony from a witness or the pain of a patient,” Reyes explained. “All of these skills were invaluable during our production on the border: from talking to heroin addicts, politicians, families of murder victims, law enforcement, forensic staff.”

Reyes’ next project will focus on the struggles of Court Interpreters in California.