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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Sophia Gurulé, Trustee and Constitutional Officer of Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (UAW Local 2325)
4:00:57
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3 min
Sophia Gurulé, representing UAW Local 2325, testified about the challenges faced by legal services workers in New York City, emphasizing the need for better funding and working conditions. She highlighted the union's efforts to improve wages, benefits, and overall conditions for legal services workers, who play a crucial role in ensuring access to justice for poor and working-class New Yorkers.
- UAW Local 2325 represents over 3,400 legal services workers across 30 nonprofit organizations in NYC.
- The union is preparing for potential sector-wide strike in July 2025 if their demands for better wages and benefits are not met.
- They are requesting full funding for legal services in FY2026 to meet core bargaining demands, including a living wage floor of $70,000 for entry-level workers and improved retirement benefits.
Sophia Gurulé
4:00:57
Thank you all for the opportunity to speak.
4:00:59
My name is Sofia Elena Gurule, and I am a trustee and constitutional officer elected union wide by the workers of the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, United Auto Workers Local two three two five.
4:01:11
UAW two three two five represents over 3,400 active and retired legal services workers at over 30 nonprofit organizations in the New York City metropolitan area, including the three knife up organizations, the Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, and the Legal Aid Society.
4:01:26
Two three two five workers are attorneys and non attorneys including paralegal, social workers, investigators, administrative workers, interpreters, IT workers, community organizers, and more.
4:01:36
As UAW workers, we are dedicated to the public good.
4:01:40
Specifically, we work to guarantee community safety by ensuring New Yorkers have access to justice in our courts as well as lifesaving social services and benefits.
4:01:48
This work includes defending those who are not born in The United States and are facing deportation and other barriers to US citizenship.
4:01:56
While UIW two three two five workers are an essential labor force, decades of underfunding has led to untenable working conditions.
4:02:03
We're facing an attrition and workload crisis.
4:02:05
We're facing a student debt crisis.
4:02:07
Our salaries and retirement benefits have failed to keep pace with our counterparts in DA's offices and corporation counsel.
4:02:14
Such inequity and funding speaks volumes.
4:02:16
When workers in public defense have stagnant wages, the legal services poor and working class New Yorkers receive are degraded.
4:02:23
When the legal services for poor and working class New Yorkers are degraded, the scales of justice weigh in favor of the rich and wealthy under undermining fundamental tenets of The US legal system.
4:02:33
Two three two five workers are dedicated to public defense, but when we can no longer afford to stay, many are forced to go to jobs in the public sector that have better salaries and real pensions such as the attorney general's office and office of court administration.
4:02:46
But then positions in public defense requiring experience go unfilled leaving those who remain overburdened with rising caseloads and we lose talent and institutional knowledge.
4:02:55
Attempts to meaningfully fill senior positions often fail.
4:02:59
This is why UAW has fundamentally changed the terrain of New York City legal services through our union organizing.
4:03:04
Now over 95% of legal services workers in New York City are UAW workers.
4:03:09
I'll repeat, over 95% of legal services workers in New York City are UAW members.
4:03:14
We will no longer accept a race to the bottom where austerity budgets reign.
4:03:18
Every bargaining table we demand more.
4:03:20
This year we have aligned the contracts over 2,100 legal services workers across 12 unionized workplaces to expire on 06/30/2025 for a potential sector wide strike in July that could shut down courts across the city.
4:03:34
While we are committed to bargaining in good faith with our employers and we we would like to avert a strike, we are prepared to uphold our labor to win a future for the thousands of workers who need better wages for the long term.
4:03:44
And our wins as unionized workers mean wins for the poor and working class citywide, union and nonunion alike.
4:03:50
In fiscal year twenty twenty six, we are asking the council to fully fund legal services so our employers and us as workers can meet our core bargaining demands.
4:03:58
Together, we are bargaining to establish a living wage floor of 70,000 for entry level, mostly non attorney workers who are the heartbeat and bloodline of public defense yet consistently underpaid.
4:04:09
We are bargaining to guarantee a minimum of 4.5% cost of living adjustment.
4:04:13
We are bargaining to ensure our retirement benefits match what public sector's employees get in the state retirement system.