Fed Up SEIU 721 Members Delivered Official 10-Day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike Notice During Last Bargaining Session After Management’s Repeated Labor Law Violations and Failure to Bargain in Good Faith
VENTURA COUNTY – Ventura Superior Court workers will go on an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike on Tues., Oct. 20, 2026 beginning at 6 AM, with a massive rally at 11 AM later that day. The ULP Strike will be the first of its kind in Ventura Superior Court history. It will shut Ventura County’s entire judicial system – from Ventura to Oxnard to Simi Valley – impacting the Hall of Justice, the Juvenile Justice Center and the Simi Valley East County Courthouse as well as services like Jury Duty.
“To date, SEIU 721 has filed four ULP charges on behalf of our Union members working at the Ventura Superior Court,” said David Green, SEIU 721 President and Executive Director. “But not only has management failed to address the issues – they’re denying them. Time and time again, they acted as if they are above the very law that Courts are supposed to uphold. They are wrong – and we will prove it when we go on our ULP Strike.”
WHO: Ventura County Superior Court Workers Who Are Members of SEIU 721, David Green, SEIU 721 President and Executive Director, Community and Labor Union Allies
WHAT: Ventura Superior Court Workers Will Go On a ULP Strike in a Massive Show of Union Power
WHEN: Tues., Oct. 20, 2026 at 11 AM
* 6 AM: ULP Strike Takes Effect
* 11 AM: Rally Featuring Union Members and Community Speakers
WHERE: Veterans Memorial at the Ventura County Government Center, (Corner of Victoria Ave. and Telephone Rd.), 800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura, CA 93009
VISUALS: Ventura County Superior Court workers will gather outside the Court and at the Veteran’s Memorial with noisemakers, banners and colorful signs reading “ULP Strike” and “Stop Breaking the Law”.
PARKING: Media may park TV trucks in the three-hour parking lot on the Hall of Administration side of the Government Center.
BACKGROUND:
Our 150+ Union-strong Ventura Superior Court workforce has faithfully and diligently served Ventura County’s 840,000 residents over a 2,208 square mile region year after year – no matter what challenges, natural disasters or unforeseen emergencies impacted the area, such as the COVID pandemic, devastating wildfires, deadly mudslides and numerous other emergency situations. The Ventura Superior Court workforce is a pivotal part of the Ventura Superior Court system. Without us, justice cannot be served.
But instead of being thanked with good faith bargaining and a fair contract, we are being slapped in the face by the Court’s rampant labor law violations.
These include management’s attempts to:
- Ban employees from wearing any Union-related lanyards, badge holders or badge reels – a unilateral and unacceptable change to dress code policy
- Refuse to release the Union’s Bargaining Team during contract negotiations despite past practice, an expression of bad faith bargaining
- Impose a remote work policy – with a waiver on Union rights
- Refuse to bargain in good faith by presenting the Union with a Last, Best and Final Offer while the parties were still negotiating over open issues
“Ventura Superior Court management is continually demonstrating a nonchalant attitude toward their professional mission – which is to preserve our Court system, not preside over its deterioration,” Green added. “While cutting staffing drastically, management also has eroded working conditions to the point where what little recruitment does take place ends up failing.”
The ULP Strike marks a watershed moment for Ventura Superior Court members of SEIU 721, who have made numerous attempts to express the depth of employee dissatisfaction to Court management. Indeed, SEIU 721 members from the Ventura Superior Court felt compelled to descend on the Government Center the morning of Tues., Sept. 22, 2026 for an Informational Picket to sound the alarm publicly on gross mismanagement by new Court CEO Kathryn “Kate” Bieker. Since she assumed the role in April 2025, working conditions for SEIU 721 members at the Court have taken a sharp nosedive – potentially impacting public services. On the heels of a member worksite survey showing that 97% of workers think that things have worsened over the past year and that 78% of respondents have considered quitting, the Union sent an open letter to Court leadership citing CEO Bieker’s poor performance leading up to her renewal at the end of the year.
At the upcoming ULP Strike on Tues., Oct. 20, 2026, Ventura Superior Court workers will rally in solidarity at 11 AM to remind the Court that nobody is above the law – including Court management – and that our Union contract will be respected within the very institution that relies upon us to uphold the law.
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Contact: Roxane Marquez, roxane.marquez@seiu721.org, (213) 705-1078
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