The Legal Aid Society, on Wednesday night, announced that a tentative contract had been achieved with its union, effectively preventing a strike. The agreement halts approximately 1,100 attorneys from walking out on Friday, July 25th, ensuring courtrooms and operations continue as usual.
The Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys – United Auto Workers Local 2325’s members authorized a strike back in June. Some of their demands included higher salaries, smaller caseloads, better retirement benefits, and more opportunities to work from home. The tentative agreement, which, according to Jane Fox, Chair of the Legal Aid Society attorneys’ union, took hundreds of hours of bargaining, is considered a step in the right direction.
Fox said, “While we are proud of these historic gains on workload protection to increase retention, a first-in-its-kind student loan fund, 20 weeks parental leave, retiree health benefits, and more, we were fundamentally left behind by Mayor Adams and our employers on salaries and pensions.” The city notably added an additional $20 million to the city budget for legal services in this year’s budget.
Deanna Logan, the Director of the Mayor’s Office for Criminal Justice, said in a statement, “The attorneys at the Legal Aid Society provide invaluable service to some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, which is why the Adams administration committed significant new funding to the organization earlier this year.”
