Just over 200 unionized public defenders at Neighborhood Defender Services across Harlem, Detroit and Texas said their management left them with no choice but to walk off the job Friday after contract negotiations over healthcare and pay remained at a standstill.
Nearly all 120 Harlem-based public defender attorneys, social workers, paralegals and other legal professionals picketed in front of their 125th Street office from 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Friday, saying their management has not budged since negotiations began in April on granting them anything more than a 1% annual cost-of-living increase in their pay. They further claimed management has been attempting to walk back healthcare provisions the union says its members need and had secured in previous contracts.
“We were driven to go on strike by management; none of us here wanted to go on strike. We all care about our clients deeply,” said criminal defense staff attorney Nastia Gorodiloba. “However, we have been forced into this position by management, who has, in the months we have been bargaining with them, refused to come to the table in good faith.”
Neighborhood Defender Services management did not respond to amNewYork’s request for comment. Striking workers said they had not heard from management all day while on the picket line — a disappointing development for the picketers who said they want to get back to the bargaining table.
“We don’t want to strike,” said Jahnavi Bhaskar, a senior staff attorney with NDS. “We want to be doing the work that we do in our office. We want to be serving our clients. We are hoping, asking, begging our management to come back with an offer that is reasonable and meets those demands, so that we can get back to the work that we want.”
Public defenders’ union gets political support
The union, which is striking for the first time in its history, said it has no-cost health care under its current contract that management is trying to nix, but it needs that provision to remain strong. Being a public defender is extremely taxing on a person’s physical and mental health, some of the striking attorneys said, and they need to be able to access the care they need to do this job.
They were joined by roughly half a dozen Democratic elected officials, including the state’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Letitia James, who said she “urged” management to meet the workers’ demands so they could get back in the courtroom.
“You really need a fair contract, and you need it now,” said James, who said she helped lead a Legal Aid strike in the 1990s when she worked there. “We need you guys back to work. Today, thousands of immigrants will be deported as a result of the end of TPS … That’s why we need you. We need you now because when you walk into a courtroom, they know that you’re gonna stand up for their rights.”
Attorney General Letitia James joins public defenders on their picket line.Photo by Isabella Gallo
The fact that the attorney general’s prosecutors and public defenders frequently find themselves on opposing sides of the courtroom underscored the importance of the union’s pursuit of a new contract. The courts don’t work without defense attorneys, and defense attorneys say they can’t work without accessible healthcare and a contract that accounts for annual cost-of-living increases, especially as inflation continues to spike.
Striking attorneys said they each typically work on 60 to 80 cases at once across Bronx Family Court and Manhattan Criminal, Family and Immigration Courts. It’s “nerve-racking” to step away from their clients — many of whom they have years-long relationships with and are dealing with pressing legal issues— but public defenders say they had no choice.
“Public defenders are not paid well … at NDS. We have not seen comparable salaries to other public defender offices,” said Gorodiloba. “Additionally, the work that we do is incredibly taxing. It is harmful, often to our mental health and often to our physical health. It is critical that we are able to take care of ourselves so that we can take care of our clients and the communities that we are committed to serving.”
The Democratic nominees for NY-7’s and NY-13’s Congressional seats, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, respectively, along with Assembly Member Jordan Wright (D-Harlem), and Assembly Member and state Sen.-elect Jessica Gonzalez Rojas (D-Queens) also joined the workers on the picket line.
Valdez joins striking workers on the picket line.Photo by Isabella Gallo 
Striking public defenders hold up signs targeting NDS Executive Director Rick Jones.Photo by Isabella Gallo
NDS is one of three public defense firms unionized under the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys that set July strike dates in the city as contract negotiations have broken down this month. Brooklyn Defender Services, which represents roughly 500 Brooklyn and Queens-based public defenders and legal professionals, struck from July 16 to July 22, though they’ve now reached a tentative agreement and are back on the job.
Bronx Defender Services has a strike date set for Mon., July 27. Union attorneys there told amNewYork they’re still in a deadlock over pay concerns and issues with management trying to make disjointed offers to different types of employees.
It’s unclear how long the Neighborhood Defender Services Harlem strike will go on for, but union workers said they’ll stay on the picket line as long as it takes for them to get what they need.
“We are hoping to get back to our work as soon as possible,” Bhaskar said. “But, whether that happens depends on what offers management is going to make.”