Bronx, NY  – On July 2, 2024, one day after the contract between The Bronx Defenders (BxD) and its wall-to-wall union, The Bronx Defenders Union–UAW Local 2325 (BxD Union), expired, BxD Union’s Bargaining Committee voted to authorize an unlimited Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike beginning the week of July 22, 2024.

The difficult decision to authorize a strike comes after the Bargaining Committee attempted for months to engage BxD’s executive management team in bargaining without success. BxD’s failure to bargain in good faith—an unfair labor practice—has left BxD Union with no choice but to call for a strike. 

“For the past six months, the Bargaining Committee has worked tirelessly to meet the demands of all 260 of our members. BxD Management, in their failure to bargain in good faith, has shown us that they don’t serve the Bronx communities we defend. Sadly, the solidarity, equity, and empathy with which our union operates appears foreign to them,” said Tyler Johnson, Bronx native, Civil Legal Advocate, and member of the Bargaining Committee. “Nonetheless, BxD Union stands ready to show BxD Management the value of our labor and the power of our collective solidarity. We cannot be bullied, gaslit, or intimidated. We’re ready to strike.”

The Bargaining Committee was empowered to call for a strike by a historic strike authorization vote. On June 27, 2024, with 93% of members participating, 93% of BxD Union voted to authorize the Bargaining Committee to call for a strike if necessary. With this vote, BxD Union became the first of the alternate providers formed after 1994 to authorize a strike in thirty years, since the Legal Aid Society went on strike under Mayor Giuliani.

Members of BxD Union cannot effectively defend the people of the Bronx when they are among the lowest-paid public defenders in New York City, contending with high attrition and unmanageable caseloads. On strike, they will protest BxD’s unfair labor practices and call for competitive salaries and benefits, no rollbacks of existing benefits and protections, a one-year contract, and key noneconomic benefits, including free speech and sustainable working conditions.

BxD Union is prepared to return to the bargaining table and make every effort to avoid this strike. BxD’s management can avert the extreme disruption a strike will cause, including interruption of client services, by agreeing to BxD Union’s reasonable contractual framework.