Staff members at Build Up Justice NYC, a prominent civil legal services organization, have announced their intention to join the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys (ALAA). Representing over 3,400 public-interest workers in the metropolitan area, the ALAA could soon include more than 70 of Build Up Justice’s 90 employees who have already signed union authorization cards. Employees are urging management to voluntarily acknowledge the union.
The move to unionize is driven by concerns over heavy workloads, inadequate compensation, and a lack of transparency within the organization. Sinan Ziyalan, a senior staff attorney and member of the organizing committee, revealed he is currently managing around 60 cases. He indicated that some colleagues handle between 70 and 80 cases, with some even reaching triple digits due to unresolved case transfers. This challenging work environment has resulted in increased staff turnover, with experienced employees leaving the organization since joining as recently as October 2022.
Amid these realities, a paralegal highlighted that a substantial portion of the staff has moved to unionized roles within the sector, noting that their office in the Brooklyn Housing Court is the sole legal services entity in the area without union representation. Build Up Justice, with a nearly 60-year history, provides crucial services to low-income New Yorkers, including affordable housing assistance, IRS dispute navigation, and domestic violence advocacy. The comprehensive nature of this work necessitates significant emotional and personal investment from staff, who believe that union protections are essential to improve service delivery across New York.
This union drive is occurring in the aftermath of a turbulent summer for New York City’s indigent legal services landscape. Strikes swept through ALAA member organizations as part of a sector-wide bargaining effort. The New York Legal Aid Society, the largest ALAA member with approximately 1,100 unionized employees, narrowly avoided a strike with a last-minute agreement on a new contract. The situation at Build Up Justice echoes complaints across the city, as employees grapple with wages that fail to keep pace with inflation, leaving many living paycheck to paycheck.
As the news of the unionization effort surfaces, Build Up Justice management has not provided immediate comments. The staff’s pursuit of better working conditions and representation aligns with broader dynamics across the legal service sector, as illustrated by the recent events impacting the New York Legal Aid Society.