When I started my first job out of law school, I did not expect to be on strike just four months later. I started working at Mobilization for Justice (MFJ), a legal services provider in New York, in late October 2023. As part of the Housing Rights Project, I represent tenants facing eviction in Bronx Housing Court.
I learned a lot in my first few months in this challenging and essential field, and I felt excited and grateful to be part of a union. The MFJ Union is a “shop” within Legal Services Staff Association (LSSA) 2320, National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW) 2320, and the United Auto Workers (UAW). Specifically, we are part of UAW region 9A, which also includes the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU).
Although unions aren’t (yet) prevalent in legal work, some legal organizations, particularly direct service providers, are unionized. Our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired at the end of 2023 and the process of bargaining for a new contract took place throughout the fall and early winter.
The following is a brief overview of that process, our union’s decision to strike for a better contract, and the strike experience.
Before the strike:
By the time I started at MFJ, the union had already used surveys and discussions to develop our demands to improve the CBA. Members of our shop also stepped up to be a part of the elected bargaining team. The union and management bargaining teams exchanged demands and counter-offers and met regularly to bargain before and after the CBA expired.
The union’s most significant demand is for fair salary increases for all workers and for paralegals and executive assistants. Salary has been a central demand because the cost of living has risen dramatically since the last contract was ratified in January 2021. Healthcare and remote work flexibility are also central issues.
When management did not come to the bargaining table with an offer that the union could accept, we held a strike authorization vote. A strike authorization vote establishes that if the union votes to reject management’s last, best, and final offer, we will automatically and immediately be on strike.
Unfortunately, management’s best and final contract offer included a proposed salary increase that did not come close to making up for wages lost to inflation and would put MFJ behind other New York City legal services organizations doing similar work. MFJ management’s offer also did not provide adequate work from home flexibility, particularly for non-attorney staff, and would take away the union’s decision-making authority over our health insurance plan.
On February 23, 2024, 93% of union voters rejected management’s final offer. Before the vote the bargaining team shared their recommendations with the shop about whether to accept or reject the offer and held office hours for discussion. Volunteer members of the bargaining support committee helped build the organizing infrastructure within the shop to make a strike possible. The bargaining support committee also organized actions throughout bargaining with the hope of pressuring management to meet our demands and avoid a strike.
On strike!
Being on strike is busy! Definitely more than I and many other first-time strikers expected. A lot of logistics planning goes into pickets, which strategically change time and location.
After the strike vote the entire shop joined strike committees responsible for things like planning and providing food at pickets, running social media accounts, and helping shop members access government benefits. Every day shop members are busy with things like reaching out to elected officials and other unions, and strengthening morale and involvement within the shop.
Going on strike is a real financial sacrifice, but the union offers support. When we voted to go on strike, MFJ management immediately cut off our healthcare, and of course we are not making our salaries while striking. The UAW offers some weekly strike pay and supplies substitute healthcare coverage. Shop members who have worked long enough and don’t have other jobs can also qualify for unemployment insurance in New York State.
Our Local union also has a hardship fund that can offer financial support to shop members with high expenses or those who don’t qualify for unemployment. As a new grad, I haven’t worked long enough to qualify for unemployment, so I’ve leaned on the hardship fund to meet expenses during the strike. A strike is a short-to-medium term sacrifice for long-term gains. When we voted to strike some shop members talked about how the union went on strike in 2003 to protect their healthcare plans–a sacrifice that we’re all still benefiting from more than twenty years later.
Pickets are energizing and exhausting at the same time. Every day that I march with my coworkers I feel moved by how we are showing up for each other. It also takes a lot of energy to walk and chant for long periods, sometimes in cold or wet weather, so rest is important. The strike has also required our shop to figure out new processes as we go along. We have all had to think hard about when and how to delegate tasks and decisions to smaller groups, and how to make collective decisions fairly. Just as equity is a core part of our demands, we’ve had to reflect on how to ensure equity within our shop as well.
Looking to the Future:
We are now in week eight of our strike. Bargaining is ongoing but the shop is disappointed that MFJ management has not taken meaningful steps toward meeting our most important demands.
We are also very concerned about what is happening to our clients as management struggles to handle an impossibly large docket. Concern for clients is an inherent part of withholding labor as legal services workers. At the same time, we are aware that this field and MFJ, in particular, have a major attrition problem. Therefore, we believe that making the work more sustainable is an important part of providing high-quality services to clients in the long term. Many clients support the strike and some have even joined us on the picket line. Adequately funding legal services is part of taking access to justice seriously.
I continue to be inspired with each passing day when I see my coworkers standing up for each other and standing by the value of our work. Challenging as it is, we can and will continue to stand up until we win a contract that respects our work as much as we respect each other.
Miriam Shestack, J.D. 23, is a movement lawyer and labor organizer, she graduated from Harvard Law School in 2023 and was involved with the Labor and Employment Action Project (LEAP) during her time at HLS.