Direct court interpreting requests continue
I received a call from Hendon Magistrates' Court yesterday at 14:10. I refused to take the booking, telling the lady that we were still boycotting court interpreting jobs because of the ALS contract. She told me she was not ringing from the agency and I would be paid direct by the court like it had been before. She sounded quite annoyed when I continued to refuse.
I will not accept any calls to go to court while my colleagues are still fighting to bring ALS down.
What this goes to show again is many bookings cannot be fulfilled by ALS, courts continue calling NRPSI interpreters direct and offering them the old rates. If NRPSI interpreters weren't taking direct bookings from courts, the system would have collapsed in the first 2 weeks of the Framework Agreement, as it was in mid February when the courts were allowed to turn away from the exclusive supplier and revert to the old system whenever necessary.
