Harlem public defenders threaten strike

Over 100 public defenders, social workers, administrative professionals, attorneys, and advocates with Neighborhood Defender Service are threatening to go on strike as soon as Wednesday, as they negotiate a contract with management.

The NDS Union picketed outside their downtown Manhattan offices on Tuesday as their July 1 contract expiration date looms. Workers at the Neighborhood Defender Service is a public defense practice serving residents of Upper Manhattan in criminal court and in other legal settings.  A strike would threaten to slow the arraignment process, leaving judges and courts scrambling to provide low-income defendants with legal representation. 

Contracts are expiring for workers at several other legal services providers, including the Brooklyn Defender Services, the Bronx Defenders and the Legal Aid Society. At the same time as NDS was picketing, their crosstown colleagues were also picketing in Brooklyn. The New York State Office of Court Administration did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication about the potential disruption.

“Management is asking us to accept less and to give more, less security, less stability, less support, less for our families and less for our futures,” said Helmis Ortega, a senior paralegal at NDS Harlem. NDSU has never had a strike before but as the contract expiration nears closer and bargaining stalls, the options are looking slim. 

NDSU is a unit within the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, UAW Local 2325. 

Union leaders said the sticking point at the bargaining table is healthcare benefit rollbacks. Management is claiming they can no longer afford the current plan that is premium and deductible free due to rising healthcare costs. NDS management’s most recent offer at the bargaining table would only keep their current healthcare benefits if the union agreed to no increase in wages. The union claimed this was unacceptable as an increase in wages to account for inflation was necessary in order to meet the current cost of living. Picketers said that any plan that kept wages stagnant would be a “pay cut.”

NDS Deputy Executive Director Shannon Anglero said leaders were in the process of determining the next steps in case of a strike, but they are still searching for a solution at the bargaining table. “We respect our employees’ legally protected right to peacefully express their views. NDS remains committed to bargaining in good faith and believes continued negotiations are the best path to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement,” she said.

On the picket line were two familiar faces: Darializa Avila Chevalier, who just defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary, and Assembly Member Claire Valdez, who just won the Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat.

“Workers are not going to back down from salary increases that reflect a real cost of living, we're not going to back down on childcare benefits, on healthcare benefits,” said Valdez, who was previously a UAW Local 2110 organizer at Columbia University. “We're going to lock arms with our coworkers and demand exactly what we are owed.” 

Avila Chevalier, meanwhile, worked for Neighborhood Defender Services as an investigator before running for office, and was represented by the union.

In conversation with City & State, Avila Chevalier said that she plans to sign on to the PRO Act to protect workers’ right to organize her first day in office due to the rise in retaliation from the Trump administration and the “emboldening of institutions that feel like they can take away the rights of workers.”

The next bargaining meeting is scheduled to take place Wednesday afternoon, the first day NDS workers would be on an expired contract. 

There is no strike deadline, but workers have the right to strike as soon as Wednesday, according to Susie Charlop, NDS staff attorney and union member.