Members of the Children's Law Center, a chapter of UAW Local 2325, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, form a picket line in downtown Brooklyn in front of the Children's Law Center office on Monday, July 17, 2023. The picket line represents the 3,000 legal service workers on strike for bad faith contract negotiations between the Children's Law Center Union and management. Photo: Ryland West/ALM
  Lawyers, social workers and paralegals for the Children's Law Center (CLC) went on strike Monday, hitting the pavement in front of the nonprofit's flagship office in Brooklyn, after two years of contract talks culminated in management offering up an "insulting" and "abysmal" salary bump. Management has proposed $37,000 starting salaries for support staff and a pay scale that tops out at $114,000 for attorneys who have put in 25 years of service. Unionized CLC employees, which includes about two-thirds of the nonprofit's total workforce, say that, in addition to salaries that are out of step with peer legal service providers, attorneys are also juggling massive caseloads that have been exacerbated by turnover at the organization, often causing children to have to meet with a rotating cast of attorneys. "I'm the sixth attorney on some of my cases," Laura Diewald, a staff attorney at CLC and a member of the bargaining committee that has been at the table with management, said. "Building rapport with families and with children, who in many cases have a lot of trauma and upheaval in their lives, is so much more difficult each time you ask them to meet and trust a new adult who you say is going to advocate for them." CLC's attorneys are unionized with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, United Auto Workers Local 2325. The organization has offices in all New York City boroughs except for Manhattan and provides legal representation for children across various practice areas. Diewald said that most attorneys for the nonprofit are working with more than 200 clients at any given time. In a statement to the New York Law Journal, Keith Little, CLC's interim executive director, noted that labor and management have reached agreements on a number of terms and that the organization is "committed to continuing its critical work in the legal representation of children in New York City." "Our dedicated staff is known for achieving positive outcomes for thousands of kids each year and we are optimistic that we will reach an agreement that allows us to continue to provide that high level of service and advocacy," Little's statement reads. "We've reached tentative agreements on a number of important issues including paid time off, travel reimbursement, and technology resources. While we continue to finalize a fair and fiscally responsible salary scale, building off of the 5% salary increase given last year, we are also advocating for the state to increase funding to support CLC and make significant investments in institutional Attorney for Children providers."