Public defenders group serving Brooklyn and Queens ends strike

Hundreds of public defenders and support staff at New York City’s second-largest legal services organization went back to work Wednesday after going on strike last week to call for better pay and work conditions.

Brooklyn Defender Services represents many low-income criminal defendants in Brooklyn and Queens. The organization also provides representation in family court, immigration, housing and labor cases. During the strike, court dates were postponed or handled by supervisors.

Attorneys, social workers and other employees walked off the job last Thursday as their union negotiated a new contract. Brian Holbrook, a member of the negotiating committee, said ahead of the strike that employees wanted higher wages and more sick time. He said the union was also urging management to allow all staff to work from home occasionally and stop requiring people to clock in and out through a location-tracking app.

The Brooklyn Defender Services Union said in a statement that a tentative agreement includes higher wages, increased retirement contributions, student loan support, more sick leave and the allowance of remote work for most staff. Employees would no longer have to use a location-tracking app under the new agreement.

The union said it would also participate in choosing the organization’s next leader, as Executive Director Lisa Schreibersdorf prepares to retire at the end of the year.

Schreibersdorf said in a statement that additional funding for public defense in the city budget allowed the organization to boost salaries and “hold the line” on employee contributions to their health insurance plans.

“As a public defender office serving over 40,000 people across Brooklyn and Queens each year, Brooklyn Defender Services is there to uphold people’s rights, freedom and dignity,” she said. “We are proud of this resolution and are pleased to see our staff return to deliver zealous defense, compassionate advocacy and support to all people in Brooklyn and Queens in need of our help.”

More than 30 New York lawmakers and nominees for office signed a letter to Schreibersdorf earlier this week calling on her to resolve the contract dispute and meet the union’s demands.

The agreement comes as several other legal services groups across the city negotiate contracts and consider whether to go on strike, including the Bronx Defenders. Unionized employees at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem voted to go on strike Friday if they don’t reach a deal with management.