Contract interpreters who handle cases in Spanish, Somali and Hmong, among other languages, are refusing assignments for Minnesota courts until their demands for increased wages are met.
The strike began Monday, the day interpreters received a state-manded raise from $56 to $65 an hour.
Maria Lander Cabrera, a Minneapolis-based interpreter, said she and other interpreters don’t feel that’s enough. The group is asking for $96.50 an hour to match the purchasing power of the initial compensation rates set in 1997 for certified interpreters.
“We love what we do and we want to be there,” Lander Cabrera said, “It’s stressful to think about all of the cases that aren’t being continued and all the people whose cases aren’t being heard.”
Interpreters are also asking to have travel time to and from assignments paid separately for those traveling to rural areas for assignment.
As of Monday afternoon, the court system had 45 requests waiting for an interpreter out of 361 total events, according to Kim Pleticha, director of public affairs for the Minnesota Judicial Branch.
“This is not significantly higher than normal,” Pleticha said. “We have had zero interpreter no-shows and no mass cancellations.”
Pleticha said the courts would triage interpreter coverage using the same system they employed during the pandemic to prioritize cases.
While some full-time staff court interpreters are employed by the state, the majority are contractors paid by assignment.
Monday’s new payment policy included a two-hour minimum payment for all assignments, and mileage reimbursement for all assignments requiring travel.
Lander Cabrera said the strike will continue indefinitely.
“We are really hoping that this puts a lot of pressure on the judicial branch and Jeff Shorba, the court administrator, to come negotiate and talk with us,” she said.
The group’s efforts to communicate with Shorba and the judiciary officials have been unsuccessful, according to Lander Cabrera.
In an email obtained by Sahan Journal, Shorba told all interpreters that “to be blunt, we simply cannot afford them [the group’s demands] given our current legislative appropriation” even though interpretation needs have “doubled” since 2019.
Shorba followed by stating the Judicial Branch will ask the Legislature for $1.6 million in additional annual funding for the Court Interpreter Program during the upcoming session.
Should that be approved, the funding will be used to increase rates to $75 per hour for certified spoken language interpreters, according to the email.
Shorba ended his email by asking interpreters to work with him to secure the funding while continuing to work, as a work stoppage would “undermine” their efforts to secure the funding.
Lander Carbera said they haven’t heard from him this week. Her group is still willing to meet and negotiate with the state Judicial Branch to reach “mutually agreeable terms.” But in the meantime they will continue to refuse to work.
