After 10 weeks on Strike, United Auto Workers-Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys (UAW-ALAA) Local 2325-represented Members employed at the Goddard Riverside Law Project in New York City have won a tentative contract agreement that will last through June 30th, 2026 - if ratified by Union Membership. More than 400 Legal Aid Workers went out on Strike in July after three Public Defender Organizations let their contracts expire - simultaneously, which included Members of Goddard Riverside. By August, that number increased to 750. The Union said the agreement included increased wages and benefits for the next year, but that the Law Department would be dissolving at the end of their contract. Workers faced intense Union-Busting, including management refusing to bargain and attempting to cut their wages as they learned of management’s plans to spin off the work of the Law Project from the Goddard Riverside Community Center. However, Workers forced management back to the table and won an agreement that also provides a retention bonus and increased safeguards around working hours that allow Workers to go back to serving clients during the transition. As part of the agreement, Goddard Riverside will be seeking to transfer their Law Department to a different non-profit, ending a Legal Aid Services Program that began in 1981.

For More On This Labor News Story, Go To:

Final striking legal aid attorney union returns to work — Queens Daily Eagle