UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE CHARGES FILED AGAINST QUEENS DEFENDERS

Contact: Alexi Shalom, ashalom@alaa.org, 347-417-1715

UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE CHARGES FILED AGAINST QUEENS DEFENDERS

Queens, NY--Charges were filed today with the National Labor Relations Board by the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys - UAW Local 2325 against Queens Defenders.  The charges allege that Queens Defenders violated federal labor law by terminating 2 employees in retaliation for their union activity and moving up the end date of a third who had submitted her resignation.  The Union has previously called for the initial two employees to be reinstated with full back pay.

After a contentious union election, the ALAA was ultimately certified in a landslide victory earlier this month, despite QD management’s intensive anti-union campaign.  Queens Defenders Executive Director Lori Zeno stated throughout the campaign that she believed the Union was “full of sh-t” and that she opposed the notion of public defenders organizing.  Ms. Zeno had also stated in a captive-audience meeting during the election campaign that in 25 years, only five people had ever been terminated.  Despite that, within the span of a single month, three employees were terminated.

“We are ready to turn the page with Queens Defenders and develop a productive working relationship with Queens Defenders management ” said Lisa Ohta, President of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys - UAW Local 2325.  “However, that will be very difficult as long as our unjustly fired members are not reinstated.  We have reached out to QD management to express that sentiment and received no substantive response.”

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