BxD Record Contract
Workers win raises, remote work, free speech, one-year reopener with right-to-strike. BxD brings sectoral total to 2000 workers across 12 units.
by Navruz Baum
Workers picket outside the BxD offices
Gaining Ground for Workers and Clients
On July 26th, workers at the Bronx Defenders (BxD) ratified a new contract. Over five months of bargaining, they beat back givebacks while winning 8%-10% raises, remote work, and free speech protections. In doing so, they brought a lagging contract in line with the sector, and set new standards on key provisions.
As the workers entered negotiations, they faced deteriorating working conditions and wage inequality. While the lowest attorney step 1 at the other public defenders (LAS, BDS, NDS, and QD) was $81,072, at BxD it was just $75,000, $6,000 lower. The lowest paid workers started at just $52,343, while the executive director made over $24,000 per month.
Every month workers fled these conditions. The remaining workers were acutely aware of this turnover’s impact. “Clients will get a new attorney and ask “how long are you going to be here?”” says Ella Nalepka, a BxD civil attorney and bargaining committee (BC) member, “it disrupts the client relationship, hurts the case, and hurts the client’s trust in our organization.”
While workers came to the table with a range of proposals to fix these issues, management started by demanding givebacks including eliminating the professional development fund, implementing a ten-year wait time for sabbaticals, and reducing PTO. But by organizing a militant campaign, workers dispatched with management’s distractions and made meaningful contract improvements.
BxD management did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Joining Sectoral
In addition to improving working conditions, BxD workers won a reopener with the right to strike July 1st, 2025. In total, 2,000 workers across twelve units now have no-strike clauses expiring July 1st, 2025 as part of the sectoral effort including workers at LAS Attorneys, NYLAG, BxD, LAS Interpreters and Investigators, UJC (UAW 2320), QD, AppAd, CAL, CAMBA, OAD, Goddard (UAW 2320), and RiseBoro.
Up until nearly the end, management rejected all proposals for a one-year contract. “They told us for months we wouldn’t get it” says Sophia Gurulé, a BxD immigration attorney and BC member. However, members saw a one-year term as “non-negotiable” says Nalepka, “people care deeply about the cross-union solidarity, and know they’ll get economic gains as a result.”
The final contract is two years, but workers forced a one-year reopener on salary, retirement, healthcare, and student loans. Most importantly, the reopener lifts the no-strike clause.
At the June Sectoral Bargaining Convention, ALAA members set an ambitious agenda for 2025 including a 4.5% COLA, $70,000 wage floor, defined benefit pension, and student loan cancellation. BxD’s 260 contract-campaign-seasoned workers will be crucial to this fight.
Management Buckles Under Strike Threat
Building a credible strike threat through meticulous organizing was key to BxD’s win. From the beginning, the Contract Action Team (CAT) and BC kept members informed with membership meetings, emails, surveys, walkthroughs (desk-by-desk one-on-one conversations), texts, and social media. CAT carefully tracked survey responses and meeting attendance, and followed up with individual members as needed. As bargaining heated up, the BC invited members to attend open bargaining, and shared live updates in an all-member group chat when bargaining closed.
Early actions included a reply-all email and posters at everyone’s desks. By the end of May, CAT held a series of five strike trainings, and spoke one-on-one with folks who couldn’t make it. Soon after, CAT held a strike authorization vote (SAV) survey to educate members and gauge their opinions. Through careful tracking and one-on-one followup, CAT got an over 90% response-rate, and followed up with every single person who said they had more questions. This tireless organizing led to a 93% yes vote on the actual SAV, as well as three lunchtime pickets with hundreds of attendees including clients and even supervisors.
These shows of force extracted some concessions, but not enough. On July 3rd, the BC set a July 22nd deadline for an indefinite strike. Workers considered doing a short strike first, but calculated management would absorb the work in the short term. Starting with an indefinite would have a greater impact, and allow workers to qualify sooner for NY unemployment.
As the strike deadline approached, CAT built subcommittees for outreach/ media, benefits/hardship, training/ internal communications, and more. The hardship committee eventually fundraised $28,000, including a $15,000 donation from LSSA (the union for MFJ and LSNYC). Like the strike trainings, SAV, and strike announcement, these preparations were intentionally visible to management. “We made a conscious choice to not keep any of it a secret” says Jessica Coffrin-St. Julien, a BxD immigration attorney and CAT member, “which added pressure on management.”
Around 2:30AM on July 18th, just a few days before the strike deadline, management finally agreed to the workers’ demands.
Looking towards sectoral bargaining in 2025, Coffrin-St. Julien encourages CATs to start early. “We built the plane as we were flying” she says, “but it’s early enough where we can be very thoughtful, now’s the time to plan.”
Brass Tacks
Salary: raised attorney step 1 from $75,000 to $81,072, raised non-attorney step 1 from $52,343 to $57,342
Work from home: two days for most workers (with a third day as job responsibilities allow), flexibility based on job responsibilities for CDP Attorneys, Social Workers, and Investigators, and a transit stipend for receptionists, interpreters, and other workers required to work in person five days a week.
Free speech: protection from retaliation for speech outside work. BxD management has previously retaliated for BLM, anti-police, and pro-Palestine comments.