More than 300 attorneys and staff from the Bronx Defenders Union went on strike Monday, with union members walking off the job and setting up a picket down the street from their office. (Daniel Moritz-Rabson | Law360)
All three unions are part of the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, a United Automobile Workers affiliate that represents more than 3,500 legal services workers in the New York City metro area. Their current contracts all expired at the end of last month, along with those of the Center for Family Representation and Catholic Migration Services, neither of which has authorized strikes at this time.
"I think management has been incredibly dishonest when they email us after negotiations, [and] when they email donors after negotiations, about how open and willing they actually are to come to a reasonable compromise," Alesia Paz, a legal advocate and union delegate at the Bronx Defenders, told Law360 Pulse from the picket line near their office in the South Bronx on Monday.
A Bronx Defenders Union member told Law360 Pulse that when the workers authorized a strike earlier this month, they were making progress on economic issues but remained at odds with their management over its proposal to separate attorney and social work salary scales and roll back hybrid work protections.
Samantha Espada, a staff attorney at the Bronx Defenders, told Law360 Pulse on Monday that management has since moved from seeking 12 months of fully in-person work for new members to nine months instead. However, it has held onto the proposal to untether attorney and social work salaries.
Conrad Blackburn, a staff attorney and policy counsel at the Bronx Defenders' criminal defense practice, told Law360 Pulse on Monday, "While I'm an attorney and I would love to get paid more, I don't think that should mean us sacrificing other workers to get there."
In a statement, Bronx Defenders executive director Juval O. Scott said its salary proposal "increases salaries and benefits across all roles while directing a larger share to attorneys, whose compensation has fallen furthest behind comparable legal work."
"That gap has made it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain the lawyers our clients and defense teams need," she added. "When one essential part of a holistic defense team is under strain, the entire model suffers."
Scott also argued that the organization's management "cannot responsibly promise resources the City has not provided."
"We are proud of the proposal we put before the union," she said. "For first-year staff, it provides salary increases ranging from 3% to 10%. For many staff with five years or more of service, the increases range from 4% to 14%. A first-year attorney's salary would rise from $85,600 to $95,000. A first-year social worker's salary would rise from $85,600 to more than $88,100, continuing to place our social workers well above the statewide average for their profession."
"We also proposed additional differentials for investigators and homicide practice advocates, and increased compensation for holiday arraignment shifts," Scott continued. "The package would expand sabbaticals and parental leave, increase access to leave pools, add student-loan reimbursement, strengthen retirement benefits, and raise the annual cost-of-living adjustment from 2% to 3%."
Monday's strike comes one year after the last time the union walked off the job. That strike started on a Friday, but workers returned to their jobs the following Monday after reaching a tentative deal with their managers.
This year, the Bronx Defenders' management is looking to secure a five-year contract, while the union is seeking a two-year contract. Several union members have also pushed back on some of the managers' representations about its resources, citing increases in funding under New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
"Last year, I was on the bargaining committee," Sahil Singhvi, a staff attorney in the Bronx Defenders' civil practice, told Law360 Pulse. "I remember them very vividly talking about, 'Our hands are tied by the city.' They're not tied anymore, and we see the posture they're taking. We don't have goldfish memories."
--Editing by Alanna Weissman.
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