A group of lawyers who handle 50% of cases for defendants who can’t afford one in Wayne County will strike Friday, July 24, after union negotiations failed.
The Neighborhood Defender Service, which serves as the key vendor for indigent services for the county, did not reach a deal, despite late-night bargaining in a fight over health care and wages with members of their workers’ union, part of UAW Local 2325 – Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys.
The bargaining parties left the table around midnight, said union bargaining committee member and Detroit-based staff attorney Ashley Munger.
Comment was not immediately available from management of the service Friday morning.
The move means union members will go on strike as of 8 a.m., and some
80 members of lawyers, social workers, administrative professionals and other workers out of Detroit are expected to picket starting at 9 a.m. outside the Wayne County Criminal Justice Center in the city.
Union members who have been fighting over a deal in New York are also expected to picket; the Neighborhood Defender Service has offices in Michigan, New York and Texas, and some 230 union members across them.
While some 60 lawyers in Detroit are on strike, some 14 to 16 supervisors are expected to take over their caseload in Wayne County, Munger has said.
Kristine Longstreet, managing director of the Detroit office, previously confirmed that supervisors will work to handle the cases.
“We’ll do what we need to do to make sure all the clients are served,” she said.
The Neighborhood Defender Service Union is seeking to maintain a current benefit of no-premium, no-deductible health insurance and avoid proposed cost-of-living wage adjustments they say essentially result in pay cuts amid inflation.
Management reported proposals of a no-deductible, no-coinsurance health insurance option with a premium and other cost-sharing options like an employer-funded health savings account.
Management described a push-and-pull in trying to balance the two main interests amid cuts to funding and health care costs that won’t go down. However, Munger said the union has gotten mixed messaging on whether funding is the problem.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lawyers for low-income metro Detroiters to strike over health care
