About ALAA
The Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys - UAW Local 2325 (ALAA) represents over 3,000 public interest attorneys and advocates in the New York City Metro Area. Founded in 1969, we are the oldest union of attorneys and legal advocates in the country. Every day, our members fight for justice for poor and low-income New Yorkers.
Despite the daily hardships that we face – struggling to provide quality representation while handling unconscionable caseloads coupled with inadequate levels of support staff and resources, not having the capacity to assist all that seek our help, struggling to make a living on lower wages than the private sector while strapped with high levels of educational debt – we fight every day with pride on behalf of the neediest of New Yorkers.
Equal access to justice is an important issue for labor. As attorneys and legal staff, we see every day the adversity low-income New Yorkers face when they confront the legal system on their own, without the aid of a trained legal advocate. We see this in the many forums in which we appear as advocates for our civil clients: housing court, civil court, welfare centers, unemployment offices, administrative hearings for administrative benefits ranging from food stamps and federal disability benefits to welfare and Medicaid. We see this in State and Federal courts. We represent New Yorkers on matters involving housing, homelessness, criminal defense, benefits, disabilities, family law, domestic violence, prisoner’s rights, reentry, elder law, consumer law, foreclosure, immigration, employment, tax law, health law, among many others.
For 50 years, we have tirelessly advocated for our clients through the power of our union, and grown from a small local of a few hundred attorneys, to an amalgamated union of 2,700 members at more than 20 different non-profits.
Mission
As set forth in Article III: Principles and Purposes of our local Bylaws, the mission of our union is:
To develop and maintain an informed and dignified membership in the ranks of organized labor;
To organize and unite into the Union all workers who represent and defend poor and working class communities in legal proceedings or other advocacy efforts;
To advance the economic, social, political, and cultural interests of our members, including improved working conditions, treatment, wages, benefits, and professional standing of members;
To protect all members from illegal, improper, arbitrary, or discriminatory treatment by any entity;
To promote robust democratic discussion among all union membership and defend union members’ freedom of speech from outside political interference;
To develop a trade union consciousness rooted in class struggle unionism, Black liberation, trans and queer liberation, feminism, antiracism, abolitionism, internationalism, anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, disability justice, migrant justice, housing justice, and other developing social justice movements aimed at improving the living and working conditions of all poor and working class people;
To ensure the provision of high-quality legal services, social services, and other support to poor and working class communities and to advocate for the improvement of these services in other arenas;
To advocate through political outreach for the advancement of the interests of union members and poor and working class communities in general;
To maintain relations with other labor bodies and work cooperatively with other unions for the advancement of the interests of union members as well as poor and working class communities in general;
To educate union members on the history of labor movements and other liberation struggles.