The deal announced Thursday came shortly after the union agreed to managers' request for separate salary scales for attorneys and social workers, a central point of contention in the negotiations.
In return, managers agreed to the union's proposed salary scale for administrative and support staff, higher pay for social workers, preserved student-loan assistance, retirement benefits, and a 2% cost-of-living adjustment for the 2028 fiscal year, followed by a 3% adjustment in fiscal year 2029, according to a Thursday statement from the organization's executive director, Juval O. Scott, shortly before the tentative agreement was announced.
The union made a deal on two outstanding issues earlier this week. According to an Instagram post from the union on Tuesday, management agreed to expand reprieve leave to all staff, rather than limiting it to client-facing staff. The union also accepted management's proposal for a delayed start on student loan relief.
"After a challenging bargaining cycle and a strike which became protracted due to management's lack of urgency in meeting our collective bargaining committee at the table, the parties reached a tentative agreement last night," Jessica Coffrin-St. Julien, an immigration attorney with Bronx Defenders and a member of the committee, told Law360 Pulse in an email on Friday. "Highlights include 3% COLA, increased retirement contributions, student loan fund participation, expanded reprieve leave, recurring sabbaticals, and raises across the board."
The tentative agreement ends a work stoppage that began on July 27. The Bronx Defenders' leadership planned to issue a statement on the deal Friday.
The Bronx Defenders union is one of five represented by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, a United Auto Workers affiliate that represents more than 3,500 legal services workers in the New York City metro area whose contracts expired on June 30.
The Brooklyn Defender Services Union and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem union also went on strike last month, but they returned to work with deals on July 22 and Aug 3, respectively. The union for the Center for Family Representation averted a strike with a deal earlier this week.
The union for Catholic Migration Services is the last of the five to remain in negotiations. Updates on the bargaining process have been sparse, but the union said in an Instagram post back in June that management had offered 4% raises, which it argued is insufficient with the current inflation rate.
--Editing by Robert Rudinger.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
