August 3, 2026

The Bronx, NY – Today marks one week since unionized staff at The Bronx Defenders began a strike. The Bronx Defenders’ latest offer raises pay across every staff role and expands benefits throughout the organization. The union’s representatives rejected this offer. 

Juval O. Scott, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders, issued the following statement: 

“As we have done throughout these negotiations, we have proposed contracts that raise salaries and benefits for all staff across every role. Our latest proposal is no different: 

1. – Increasing first-year social worker salary from $85,600 to $90,000, with an average increase of approximately 6%, or $6,400, across the scale
2. – Increasing first-year attorney salary from $85,600 to $95,000, with larger increases, ranging from 12%-15%, across the attorney scale
3. – Adding pay for investigators, Homicide Practice advocates, and holiday arraignment shifts
4. – Expanding sabbatical and parental leave, leave pool access, student loan reimbursement, retirement benefits, and increasing the annual cost-of-living adjustment to 3%

“Social work is foundational to our client-centered advocacy, and our current salary, as well as the proposed $90,000 starting salary, is well above the approximately $71,300 annualized mean wage for community and social service occupations in the New York metropolitan area. 

“Our remaining disagreement is about how to address attorney recruitment and retention. Attorney compensation has fallen too far behind comparable legal work. As a result, attorneys are leaving BxD after two to four years, just as they are gaining the experience our clients, teams, and newer staff rely on. When we ask them why they are leaving, the answer is almost always money. We must pay our attorneys more.

“The union’s representatives claim that creating separate attorney and social work salary scales undervalues social work. We disagree. Social workers are already paid above broad regional and public sector benchmarks, and our proposal would raise their compensation further. 

“It is ironic that we are fighting with our union’s representatives to pay our attorneys more. And it is frustrating that the union’s representatives seem to be prioritizing their own agenda over the very real day-to-day concerns of our workers, our clients, and our organization.  

“Our goal remains an agreement that brings our staff back together and protects the quality of defense the people of the Bronx deserve. We remain hopeful that such an agreement is possible. 

“In the meantime, The Bronx Defenders remains open. We continue our arraignment obligations and representing people at every level of their case, while providing legal help and support services from our offices.”

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