On the night of April 30, 2024, Columbia University became the site of a brutal crackdown. NYPD officers stormed the campus wielding batons, zip-tie cuffs, firearms, and flashbang grenades, moving in formation toward the Palestine-solidarity encampment.

Legal services are funded by the public, and are meant to serve the public. Yet they are controlled by corporate elites.

ALAA's 1973 strike was motivated by a bold premise: as legal services workers, our ethical duty is not to simply sign retainers with empty promises of competent representation. Our ethical duty is to transform our sector so that it provides competent representation of every client, present and future.

"Yesterday, one of our union family members was killed on the job in Toledo. He was a transfer out of Belvidere. A final indignity of being scattered from your home."

On August 15th, LAS management made all bathrooms gender neutral in the wake of sustained worker pressure. This change was the culmination of a years-long campaign led by the LAS Attorney and 1199 LGBTQ Caucuses which fought through transphobia, deadnaming, and management intransigence.

BxD supervisors defied heavy-handed repression to join the picket line and pressure management to agree to the workers’ proposals.

On July 26th, LAS Attorneys ratified a salary reopener with a $6,500 bonus and a 4% raise bringing attorney step 1 to $85,025.91.

Paralegals, social workers, and support staff at LAS, unionized with 1199 SEIU, recently delivered a petition to CEO Twyla Carter signed by over 75% of members demanding fair wages and a flexible telecommuting policy.

Workers win raises, remote work, free speech, one-year reopener with right-to-strike. BxD brings sectoral total to 2000 workers across 12 units.

Since March 1978, The ALAA Organizer has kept members informed through contract campaigns, strikes, and other struggles.