Union Workers Unite as Five Union Contracts Reach Deadline

Representatives from various legal aid agencies in New York City assembled in City Hall Park yesterday afternoon as five unions, represented by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, near the deadline for their new contracts. Among the political candidates supporting the unions of Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, Neighbourhood Defender Service of Harlem, the Centre for Family Representation, and Catholic Migration Services are State Assembly candidate Conrad Blackburn and congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier. These five organisations are part of the attorneys’ union, an affiliate of the United Automobile Workers representing more than 3,500 legal services employees in the New York City metropolitan area.

This comes in light of strike action initiated by hundreds of legal services workers last summer as part of a strategy adopted by the association to improve wages and terms of employment for workers across the city. The action followed several years of organising drives among non-profit organisations. The situation became particularly serious in 2025 when the Legal Aid Society negotiated a tentative deal with the 1,100 members of its union at the eleventh hour to avoid a strike.

This year, the conflict between union members and management at Brooklyn Defender Services appears to be escalating following last year’s decision by the organisation to take over the criminal defence contract from Queens Defenders, whose executive director was arrested for stealing more than $100,000. She was convicted of wire fraud in February.

In a recently published letter, the union at Brooklyn Defender Services claimed that management has not been “meaningfully engaging in negotiations for economic issues” since all demands were submitted on March 30. The negotiations are taking place as Lisa Schreibersdorf, the founder of the organisation, plans to step down as executive director following accusations that she attempted to persuade a union representative to organise a decertification campaign.

“As our employees, we call on the city to pay us a living wage for our services,” Schreibersdorf said in an email to Law360 on Wednesday. “We’ve advocated for increased funding for the provision of legal services and have emphasised that the current salaries paid to our employees are insufficient. We have an interdisciplinary team of attorneys, social workers, investigators, and administrative personnel who put their best efforts into safeguarding the rights of the people of New York. They deserve to be paid a competitive wage so they can continue their work and make a living in New York City.”

In contrast, the union at the Neighbourhood Defender Service renewed its contract in 2024 and secured an agreement that ensures free healthcare for all workers, along with salary increases and other benefits. The union reported that it took more than a year to secure back pay for members whose previous contract had expired nearly a year earlier.

Bronx Defenders is one of the Alliance for Legal Services’ organisations that managed to negotiate a new contract last year. Among the terms of the agreement was a minimum salary of $68,500 for investigators, advocates, and administrators, as well as differentials and salary increases for attorneys and social workers.

In a recent op-ed published in the independent online publication City Limits, Bronx Defenders Executive Director Juval O. Scott and Union President Samantha Espada called on the Mayor to boost funding for legal aid services for those in need.

“Earlier mayors and city councils were aware of the issue and held hearings, reports, and recommendations,” they wrote. “Yet service providers continue to find themselves in the same position every year. Zohran Mamdani, a mayor who recognises the contributions of the workforce within the legal system, now has a chance to demonstrate a broader sense of responsibility.”

Catholic Migration Services and the Centre for Family Representation each entered into their first-ever contracts over the summer. The Catholic Migration Services union received pay increases, while the Centre for Family Representation secured just-cause protections, retirement security, and safeguards against layoffs, according to its announcement.

“We feel the squeeze of the affordability crisis just as other working-class New Yorkers do, and too many of us are being pushed out of jobs that we have always loved, but which do not pay the rent because love does not cover your mortgage,” said Lisa Ohta, President of the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys. “By increasing funding for this vital work, as well as the wages of union members who keep our courts running, the City Council can show that investing in the best possible defence for New Yorkers is also an investment in public safety.”

Neither the Centre for Family Representation nor the Neighbourhood Defender Service of Harlem responded immediately to Law360’s inquiry.