The unions for the Neighborhood Defender Service, Brooklyn Defender Services, the Bronx Defenders, the Center for Family Representation and Catholic Migration Services all saw their contracts expire without reaching a tentative agreement. All five shops 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.
Both the Neighborhood Defender Service and Brooklyn Defender Services held practice pickets Tuesday. Neighborhood Defender Service Union's New York chapter issued a statement Monday calling the picket "a necessary escalation after NDSU spent months attempting to negotiate for a contract with basic guarantees."
Jahnavi Bhaskar, a staff attorney for Neighborhood Defender Service's criminal defense practice, told Law360 on Wednesday that the biggest sticking point in their negotiations with their managers has centered on their healthcare plan.
"Our managers have kind of flat out refused to bring the kind of proposal to the table that would allow us to keep our healthcare plan as it is," she said, "and that's after we've had over 12 bargaining sessions."
The Neighborhood Defender Service healthcare plan comes with no premium and no deductible, which the union says has been key to attracting and retaining talented lawyers.
"Many members have come to [Neighborhood Defender Service] for the kind of plan that we have now," Bhaskar said.
The pickets come after hundreds of legal services workers went on strike last summer as part of a bargaining strategy the association developed to improve pay and working conditions across the city, following an organizing wave at nonprofit organizations that spanned several years.
Representatives for the Neighborhood Defender Service did not immediately respond to request for comment Wednesday.
--Additional reporting by Braden Campbell. Editing by Stephen Berg.
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