Legal Services Strike Ends, Militance Signals Future Struggles

NEW YORK CITY, June 24 — Today members of UAW Local 2320 the Legal Services Staff Association voted to end their six-week strike and return to work. With the deck stacked against them, and knowing that this offer was “as good as it’s going to get” for now, the 270 lawyers, para-legals and clericals accepted a concession contract and resumed representing their poor, mostly black, Latino and immigrant clients. During the strike, PLP was welcomed on the picket lines and dozens of workers were introduced to CHALLENGE.
The workers waged a militant fight. All strikers participated on local strike committees, and the local established a Hardship Fund to cover strikers’ rent, utility and other bills in an emergency. Women played a leading role in the strike. The International UAW paid the strikers’ health insurance after the millionaire corporate lawyers that run the NYLSC cut them off retroactively and without notice. While this was a great help to those on strike, it also gave the International union tremendous leverage in leading the workers to accept concessions.
The UAW’s strategy was to rely on Democratic Party politicians, especially mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn, to win a contract loaded with concessions, although less than what the union-busting bosses had hoped for. Letters of support came from New York City’s Congressional delegation and a long list of City Council members. But that “support” was used to get workers to pay more for their health care, and anticipated layoffs in the coming year. “Layoff equity protections” with management (there is one manager for every three staff) almost guarantees layoffs, as long as some managers are laid off too.
With all this “political clout,” why wasn’t there a no-layoff guarantee? Why are we contributing 1% of our salary to health care premiums?  Because these are the same politicians that have overseen a drastic reduction in staff and the closure of several neighborhood offices over the past several years. These cutbacks, while costing our members jobs, are mainly aimed at the unemployed and working poor clients we serve. They are racist to the core. They are part of the destruction of the old social contract, the so-called safety net of social benefits such as unemployment insurance, social security, and medicaid. More cuts are on their way to pay for the bosses’ widening imperialists wars.
No strike or contract can stop war and fascism. Only communist revolution can do that.
The contract is retroactive to July 1, 2012, and will expire in July, 2014. More than a few who voted to accept this contract are also talking about walking out again a year from now.  But most important, we need to build a mass PLP among legal service workers and clients.