1199SEIU members press Mayor Bill de Blasio for promised pay parity at Legal Aid Society

NEW YORK, NY / AGILITYPR.NEWS / November 13, 2019 /  

Members of 1199SEIU, rallied today on the steps of City Hall today alongside UAW Local 2325 and LSSA 2320, to call on the City to do right by the paralegals, social workers, and support staff who work alongside attorneys at the Legal Aid Society. Low wages at Legal Aid have forced two thirds of 1199 members to find second jobs in order to make ends meet.

Paralegals, social workers, and support staff are a crucial part of the legal team that provides invaluable quality services to the City’s indigent poor. These workers have not received a wage increase in ten years, and as a result there is a very high attrition rate, depriving low income New Yorkers of experienced staff to deliver the legal services they need and deserve.

As part of the budget last June, New York City promised to allocate funding to Legal Aid, thereby allowing for pay parity equal with the City Corporation Counsel’s Office. Since then the City has committed to only partial funding and only for junior attorneys.

1199SEIU President, George Gresham sent a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio this week, urging him to uphold his commitment to funding for Legal Aid workers.

He wrote: “For years, Legal Aid has struggled to secure funding to compensate all staff at wages competitive with their government counterparts. Due to the low wages at Legal Aid, two-thirds of our members find it necessary to secure second jobs to provide for their families.”

David Guerrero, an 1199SEIU member and Paralegal from the Bronx, said: “Our members struggle to get by in a city the gets ever more expensive. We represent low income New Yorkers in very serious situations. We help prevent them from being displaced from this city, but very often we are not far away from having to deal with the same problems ourselves. We deserve to be able to raise our families in this city. It is our city too.”

Aishah Bruno, an 1199SEIU member who is a Paralegal Case Handler in Manhattan, said: “I am not just standing here in the freezing cold advocating for myself, but also for my nine-year-old son. I need a higher salary so that we can keep up with the housing increases and avoid losing our home and so that I can keep us out of a shelter.”

Dreana Bellamy, an 1199 Organizer, said: “These members come out and advocate for the most vulnerable people in our city, Mayor Bill de Blasio should come out and advocate for them. We are asking for the pay parity they deserve…and were promised.”