Brooklyn Defender union calls on embattled boss to step down
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Union members of Brooklyn Defender Services picketed outside their office following accusations against their executive director, Lisa Schreibersdorf, of attempting to decertify the union. Eagle photo by Noah Powelson
By Noah Powelson
Labor tensions escalated on Thursday as elected city officials and union members called for the executive director of the city’s second-largest public defense group to step down, less than a week after she was accused of attempting to break up her organization’s attorneys’ union.
Union members of Brooklyn Defender Services picketed outside their office on Thursday for the first time since their executive director, Lisa Schreibersdorf, was accused of allegedly scheming to create a rival company union to break up the existing chapter of the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys. Demonstrating workers were joined by two elected officials, Queens Assemblymember Claire Valdez and New York City Councilmember Alexa Avilés.
Valdez, who was a member of UAW Local 2110, has been an outspoken supporter of legal aid unions in recent months as several entered into tense contract negotiations over the summer. Outside the BDS office on Thursday, Valdez said she was shocked to hear the accusations against Schreibersdorf, and called for her resignation.
“What I know from being in government is that we rely on our legal services partners all the time,” Valdez added. “The working-class people of New York City would not be able to thrive or even live here without your support. We are going to have your back in this fight.”
“And if Lisa can’t step up, it sounds like she needs to step down,” Valdez added.
Avilés also appeared briefly at the picket line in solidarity with the BDS union, saying the alleged attempt at union busting at BDS was just a small example of a greater labor battle across the city.
“What we know is happening here is wrong and it’s happening all over the city,” Avilés said on Thursday. “We are not going to leave anyone behind in this fight.”
But the main speaker of the rally was the BDS worker who Schreibersdorf allegedly offered better benefits and lower caseloads in exchange for creating a rival union. The whistleblower, who requested anonymity for story, told the crowd they were pulled into a one-on-one meeting with Schreibersdorf, who offered them a suit of benefits if they helped decertify the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys chapter at BDS.
Instead, they went to BDS union leaders the next day, who filed grievances with the National Labor Relations Board.
“She offered money, she offered me benefits, in the hopes I would do her dirty work for her,” the whistleblower told the picket line. “It is incredibly insulting and offensive that she would think I would compromise my values and all the incredibly hard work our union has done thus far in order to support her illegal and corrupt efforts.”
The whistleblower provided the Eagle with a document they say they received from Schreibersdorf during the meeting, which details the process of creating a union as well as some names of people to contact. They also said Schreibersdorf gave names of BDS colleagues she believed were anti-union, as well as a law firm who could consult. Schreibersdorf allegedly also offered to cover the fees for any legal consultations.
The whistleblower, who is a union delegate, said they do not know why Schreibersdorf selected them for this plan. They said their few interactions with Schreibersdorf were always under the context of union activity, including presenting Schreibersdorf with grievances.
“I think she read me as someone who was understanding and kind, and she mistook my kindness for weakness,” the whistleblower told the Eagle. “She thought she could manipulate me and tempt me with money and power to get her to do what she wanted to.”
Union leaders told the Eagle they are planning to organize a vote with all BDS union members on whether they should formally call for Schreibersdorf’s resignation.
The accusations against Schreibersdorf appear to have stoked an outrage that had been building over the past year.
Queens Assemblymember Claire Valdez rallied with union members of Brooklyn Defender Services following accusations that their executive director allegedly attempted to break up their union. Eagle photo by Noah Powelson
Over the summer, the union filed grievances against BDS with the NLRB after Schreibersdorf required staff to work in person at the office five days a week and instituted a new clock-in and clock-out application through staff’s personal devices that used location sharing.
The union claimed both changes were made by Schreibersdorf without first consulting ALAA members, in violation of their labor contract, an allegation Schreibersdorf has repeatedly denied.
Union officials also claimed that former Queens Defenders employees, who the organization inherited along with their city contract after their former executive director was arrested on fraud charges, were initially subject to different employment policies than their Brooklyn peers.
At the rally on Thursday, where well over 100 workers demonstrated, union members chanted in anger and frustration, and periodically called for Schreibersdorf to step down. Those at the rally said that recent developments had pushed those previously inactive in union activities to the forefront of the picket line.
One such worker was Alex McHugh, a senior staff attorney at BDS who is part of the company’s criminal defense practice and who accused Schreibersdorf of denying his request to extend his leave because she believed he was a union supporter.
McHugh, who has worked at BDS since 2015, said Schreibersdorf had refused the request due to his participation in a recent union drive at the time. When McHugh attempted to speak to her about the issue, he said Schreibersdorf yelled at him in her office.
The confrontation, as McHugh describes it, eventually ended with Schreibersdorf slamming the door in his face while saying she wasn’t going to allow him to extend his leave and he wasn’t owed anything.
McHugh said he had always hesitated to voice his support for the union in the past, and even at times defended Schreibersdorf’s actions over the last decade believing she treated her employees with respect. He said that changed after the accusations were made public last week.
“I’m someone in a position of privilege in this office,” McHugh said. “If she’s explicitly denying me benefits because she thinks I voted for the union, she can do it to any of us, including people with much less security than me who don’t feel they can speak out.”
Andrew Eichen, the BDS union co-chair and senior attorney in the organization’s civil practice, told the Eagle he was shocked when the accusations against Schreibersdorf were brought to him.
Union picketing efforts to prevent the earlier work policy changes were ultimately not successful, and he wasn’t sure how much impact further pickets would have. But when the whistleblower approached him with details of Schreibersdorf’s alleged plan, he said it was clear they were much more successful than he first thought.
“I was amazed to find out that actually we were having a massive impact, and [Schreibersdorf] was willing to egregiously break the law based on three pickets and a couple articles in the press,” Eichen told the Eagle. “Now we’ll be continuing in earnest. We’ll be out here probably once a week going forward until we see a resignation.”
Eichen said that all members of the BDS union, including former Queens Defenders staff who were acquired when BDS took over their city contract, would be voting early next week on if they should formally call on Schreibersdorf to resign.
BDS declined to provide a comment for this story.
