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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jane Fox, Chair of Legal Aid Society Attorneys Chapter at Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys (ALAA-UAW Local 2325)
8:24:17
ยท
3 min
Jane Fox, representing UAW Local 2325, testified about the challenges faced by legal services workers in New York City, including underfunding, low salaries, and high attrition rates. She emphasized the need for better funding to improve working conditions and maintain quality legal representation for working-class New Yorkers.
- Fox announced a potential sector-wide strike in July 2025 if their bargaining demands are not met
- Key demands include a living wage floor of $70,000 for entry-level members, a 4.5% COLA, improved retirement benefits, and competitive salaries
- She stressed that austerity budgets in legal services hurt both the union and New Yorkers in need of legal representation
Jane Fox
8:24:17
Good evening.
8:24:18
Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
8:24:20
My name is Jane Fox.
8:24:21
I am the chair of the Legal Aid Society Attorneys Chapter at the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys.
8:24:27
We are United Auto Workers Local two thousand three hundred and twenty five.
8:24:31
UAW two thousand three hundred and twenty five represents over 3,400 active and retired legal services workers at over 30 nonprofit organizations in the New York City Metro Area and beyond.
8:24:43
UAW twenty three twenty five members are attorneys, paralegals, social workers, investigators, and support staff.
8:24:50
We are the workers who guarantee community safety by making sure New Yorkers have access to justice in our courts and vital social services in our city.
8:24:59
And while our members are an essential labor force, decades of underfunding has led to untenable working conditions.
8:25:06
We are facing an attrition and workload crisis.
8:25:08
We are facing a student debt crisis.
8:25:12
Our salaries and retirement benefits have failed to keep pace with our counterparts in the district attorney's offices and corporation counsel, and this inequity in our funding speaks volumes about who is valued in the legal system.
8:25:26
When our wages stagnate, the services our clients receive are degraded.
8:25:31
Our members are dedicated to public service, when we can no longer afford to stay, we go to jobs in the public sector that have better salaries and real pensions, such as the attorney general's office and the Office of Court Administration.
8:25:44
Positions requiring experience go unfilled, leaving those who remain overburdened with rising caseloads.
8:25:51
Our salaries are just too low, and the cost of living in the city is just too high.
8:25:56
In 2025, UAW '20 '3 '20 '5 has fundamentally changed the terrain of legal services through our union organizing.
8:26:05
And now over 95% of legal service workers in New York City are UAW twenty three twenty five members.
8:26:13
And this year, we have aligned the contracts of over 2,100 of our union members across 12 chapters to expire on 06/30/2025 for a potential sector wide strike in July that could shut down courts across the city.
8:26:28
While we are committed to bargaining in good faith with our employers, and while we do not want to strike, we are prepared to withhold our labor to win a future for thousands of our members who need better wages for the long term.
8:26:41
In fiscal year twenty six, we are asking the council to fully fund legal services so our employers can meet our core bargaining demands.
8:26:49
Together, we are bargaining to establish a living wage floor of $70,000 for our entry level members.
8:26:56
We are bargaining to guarantee a minimum 4.5% COLA.
8:27:00
We are bargaining to ensure our retirement benefits match what public sector employees get in the state retirement system.
8:27:07
And finally, we are bargaining to increase salaries to keep pace with agencies such as the federal defenders and attorney general's office to retain our most experienced members.
8:27:18
Our members are not immune from the affordability crisis that has hit this city.
8:27:23
Austerity budgets and legal services hurt our union, and they hurt New Yorkers.
Yusef Salaam
8:27:27
If you can submit the remainder of your testimony so that it can
Tina Luongo
8:27:31
be Sure.
Jane Fox
8:27:31
Included in final statement, which is that settling fair contracts centered on these demands will provide stability to our members and ensure working class New Yorkers get the absolute best legal representation because they deserve nothing less.
8:27:46
Thank you.
Yusef Salaam
8:27:47
Thank you.