Striking MFJ Workers Say Management is Trying to Bust Union by Hiring Strikebreakers

The unionized staff of MFJ Legal Services are accusing MFJ Management of using union busting tactics as the legal workers wrap up their fifth week on strike. On Monday, union members confirmed that management has hired strikebreakers to replace some of the 109 unionized employees who have been on strike since February 23rd.

Last week, members were alerted to several job postings by Vanguard Staffing for temporary paralegal and attorney positions at MFJ. On March 25, the union held a morning picket outside MFJ's Manhattan office to confront strikebreakers as they arrived for their first day of work. The entrances to all sides of the office at 100 William Street were full of members who were joined by other unionized legal services workers as well as Scabby the Rat. The union held a hour-long rally where hundreds of flyers about the scabs were distributed, including directly to some of the strikebreakers as they entered the building.

"MFJ cannot run a legal services nonprofit on scab labor," said Ella Abeo, a union bargaining team member and and paralegal in MFJ's Housing Project. "By hiring untrained strikebreakers, Management is conceding that it cannot sustain the volume of cases without proper staffing. MFJ needs to meet the Union's demands so that we can get back to work helping clients." Read more here and follow the MFJ Union here for updates, including info on upcoming pickets.