On August 31, 2026, your UPE Court Professional Bargaining Team met again with Sacramento Superior Court to negotiate a new contract. August 31st was the expiration date for the current contract. The parties did not reach agreement but did schedule another session for Friday, September 4, 2026. The two sides remain far apart on salary, the biggest issue. UPE continues to advocate for fair ongoing wage increases to help address the rising cost of living, while the Court cont

Today, August 28, 2026, your UPE bargaining team once again met with the court to work towards a renewed contract. At today’s session, some progress was made. However, our sides remain far apart on a deal. Our teams exchanged proposals related to expanding access to retiree healthcare. We were also able to tentatively agree with the court on a proposal that would expand employees' ability to take bereavement leave. Further, the court provided a packaged proposal aimed at ad

Your 008 negotiations team met with the department regarding the mandatory requirement to utilize the Work Number at intake, SAR & renewal/recertification. The department shared an ACL (All County Letter) from CDSS (California Department of Social Services) that is making the use of the Work Number mandatory for all eligibility staff due to HR1 implementation. UPE understands that the County has no option but to impose this mandate; however, with an already unmanageable workl

On August 26, 2026, your UPE Office Technical Bargaining Team continued negotiations with Sacramento Superior Court. This was the last scheduled bargaining session before the expiration of the contract on August 31, 2026. The parties did not reach agreement and remain far apart on key issues, but the sides did schedule another meeting for September 3, 2026. The Court increased its compensation offer to a one-time payment of $1,000 for all employees. This is only a $250 increa

Your 008 negotiations team met with the department for the final time regarding their proposal to add more work to HSS staff in ICT & TOA units. UPE proposed a 5% differential for any HSS expected to perform out-of-class duties. Currently, Program Specialists are resolving the state-compiled list of duplicate persons' duties to an HSS. Because the department refuses to compensate our members for doing work outside of their classification, we declared impasse and are proceedin

On August 24, 2026, your UPE Court Professional Bargaining Team and Sacramento Superior Court continued negotiations. UPE continued to make proposals designed to improve working conditions and wages. That did not change at this meeting. UPE provided a counter to expand bereavement leave and maintained our position on fair and livable wages for our members. The Court has yet to respond to UPE proposals relating to Professional Dues, increases to Service Awards, increases to Va

On August 21, 2026, your 008 governing board met with DHA management to discuss their proposal to backfill the current HSQRS vacancy in General Assistance (GA) at Susie Gains with another HSS. Though the program is in dire need of more HSS to help offset the volume of intakes, the department is proposing the delegation of the HSQRS tasks to all of the HSS in GA. This would mean that HSS would be applying and removing sanctions and reviewing and processing monthly reports. The

Greetings, UPE Family! On August 20, 2026, your UPE bargaining team met with Labor Relations and the Department of Health Services, Public Health Division regarding the revision of the Employee Safety Policy. After the meeting, UPE determined that the revision of the policy had little to no impact on the membership. There were small grammatical and formatting issues that need to be addressed prior to publishing and implementation. UPE requested to receive a copy of the final

Just when we thought the Court couldn't go any lower, they slithered in yet another slimy proposal—this time targeting our members' vacation rights. Today, the Court responded to UPE's proposal to increase vacation slots for all units with their own proposal. The Court proposal contains language that could reduce the number of available vacation slots and potentially give the CEO discretion to decide whether certain units should lose vacation slots altogether. Vacation time i

On August 6, 2026, UPE met with the Sacramento Superior Court regarding its proposal to eliminate the daily lunch closure and implement continuous public service hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. During the meeting, UPE presented information from other California trial courts and written statements from current and former Civil Self-Help Services employees. UPE advocated for employee safety by proposing: A consistent law enforcement presence in the Civil Self-Help Services

Court Offers Insulting One-Time Payment Your UPE Court Professional Unit Bargaining Team continued negotiations with Sacramento Court on August 14, 2026. UPE made seven additional proposals in an effort to improve working conditions and livable wage increases. The proposals included wage increases, protections against AI, improvements to retiree health benefits, and the ability to cash out sick leave and/or convert to vacation time. The Court responded with an insulting prop