As the city’s longest public defender strike since 1982 enters its second week, one immigration attorney will be crossing the picket line to return to work Tuesday in what her union has called an “impossible” and “false” choice.
The Bronx Defenders union, which has been on strike since July 27, said a striking immigration attorney will go back to work Tuesday for a hearing for a client that could end with their deportation if they don’t have representation after her supervisor’s request to adjourn the hearing until she was back was shot down by a federal judge – something the union alleges the supervisor should have been able to handle themself and knew would happen if they asked to postpone the hearing.
“It just put the attorney in a really untenable situation,” Jessica Coffrin-St. Julien, another Bronx Defenders immigration attorney, told amNewYork.
The union says the immigration attorney in question had prepared everything for the hearing prior to the strike so that a supervising attorney could step in and handle it on her behalf, the policy the organization is using across the board while attorneys have walked off the job.
What happened instead, the union said, was that the supervisor asked a federal immigration judge known for forcing striking attorneys to appear in court to adjourn the hearing until the striking attorney could appear for her client instead of handling it themself. That federal judge subsequently denied the request to adjourn the hearing and issued an order naming the striking immigration attorney and ordering her to personally come to court to represent the client.
“They sought a continuance, knowing it would likely result in a court order that would basically force one of our members into crossing a picket line,” said Coffrin-St. Julien. “It just feels like weaponizing our care for immigration court cases to get us to cross the picket line.”
If she doesn’t appear in court Tuesday, the union said she was nervous her client wouldn’t have representation at all, which could lead to his deportation, so she’s agreed to cross the picket line.
Bronx Defenders management said that if she returns to work for the hearing, she won’t be able to go back on strike. Hu said that felt like it proves the union’s point that their management can’t handle cases without them.
Bronx Defenders management did not respond to a request for comment specifically about this situation. Instead, management commented on the strike generally, saying their current offer includes pay raises across every staff role and expands benefits throughout the organization.
“Our goal remains an agreement that brings our staff back together and protects the quality of defense the people of the Bronx deserve,” Executive Director Juval Scott said in a statement. “We remain hopeful that such an agreement is possible.”
The union and management remain divided over pay – particularly the union’s desire for social worker pay to remain “tethered” to attorney pay so both positions are well compensated and the union’s ask for a 3% annual cost of living increase to their salaries.
They also remain at odds over certain policies, including the union’s desire for protections for non-citizen workers, like not allowing ICE into their buildings, for management to not track attorney locations, student loan support and for hybrid work to be more frequently allowed.
Bronx Defenders attorney bargaining committee member Abhi Hu said management hasn’t been meeting with them as much as they’d like, which is making it hard to know where to find common ground.
The parties are due back at the bargaining table tomorrow for three hours. They remain on strike, alongside the Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem, which has been striking since July 24.