Resolution Condemning Lisa Schreibersdorf

Adopted by the Executive Board October 1, 2025

Whereas, Lisa Schreibersdorf, the Executive Director of Brooklyn Defender Services, has consistently opposed public defense workers’ civil and statutory rights to collectively organize and bargain for improved conditions of employment;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf has unilaterally altered the Collective Bargaining Agreement of the Brooklyn Defenders Union by abrogating the agreement's work-from-home policy and requiring in-office work from all bargaining unit members, despite a lack of available desks and workspaces in BDS offices;

Whereas, in order to enforce her unbargained-for return-to-office policy, Schreibersdorf has required the use of an intrusive and unprecedented location-tracking bossware application for all exempt employees of BDS, to widespread protest and repeated picketing by the BDS Union, most recently on September 15, 2025;

Schreibsersdorf’s Covert Scheme to Destroy the Democratically-Formed BDS Union and Create a Sham Company Union

Whereas, on September 16, 2025, Schreibersdorf summoned an elected union representative and attempted to suborn the representative to undertake a union decertification campaign secretly and illegally sponsored by Schreibersdorf and BDS;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf provided detailed instructions on how to subvert the collective decisions of BDS’s unionized workforce, as expressed in the overwhelming election result in favor of forming a union in 2021 and ratification of a first contract in 2023;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf promised financial and in-kind assistance to ensure the success of this undemocratic and deceptive scheme, and proposed to disguise the source of the assistance to avoid being personally implicated;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf openly acknowledged that federal labor law does not allow her to interfere with union decisions or provide covert assistance to a decertification campaign, but that she considers the potential penalties worth it;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf proposed the formation of a captive, illegal company union to replace the BDS Union and provide workers with the illusion of representation;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf promised a personal benefit to the union representative in the form of reduced workload at full salary, conditioned on the representative’s success in decertifying the BDS Union and being elected president of the sham company union;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf entirely misjudged the upright, honest, and courageous character of the union representative whom she approached, and failed to predict that the representative, rather than ever entertaining the possibility of betraying their fellow workers, would promptly expose the scheme to union leadership;

Consequences of Schreibersdorf’s Dishonest and Unlawful Actions

Whereas, Schreibersdorf’s secret scheme breached the legally-binding Collective Bargaining Agreement, which recognizes the BDS Union, ALAA UAW Local 2325, as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of non-supervisory employees;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf flagrantly violated the National Labor Relations Act Section 8, which prohibits employers from interfering with or coercing employees in the exercise of their labor rights and from dominating or contributing funds to a labor union;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf’s dishonest, unlawful actions bring disgrace on a public defense office that is a pillar of civic life in Brooklyn and Queens and that serves as a shield for the most downtrodden communities in New York City in ensuring their legal rights are protected;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf’s antipathy for and determination to undermine BDS’s unionized workforce imperils the government funding that pays for BDS’s operations and the salaries of hundreds of workers;

Whereas, Schreibersdorf’s reckless plot calls into question her priorities as a leader, and gravely undermines confidence in her stewardship of BDS;

Therefore, be it resolved by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, UAW Local 2325:

1. That ALAA condemns Lisa Schreibersdorf;

2. That ALAA calls for Lisa Schreibersdorf’s resignation as executive director of Brooklyn Defenders; and

3. That ALAA calls on and encourages our allies in labor and elected office to support BDS Union members and stand against union busting by likewise condemning Lisa Schreibersdorf and demanding her resignation.