Public Safety & Justice Resolved Updated Jul 23, 2026
The public defenders' strike
About 500 public defenders and support staff at Brooklyn Defender Services and Queens Defenders walked off the job over wages, sick time and a location-tracking app the offices want to impose, threatening delays in Brooklyn and Queens criminal courts. The strike tests whether the city's contracted indigent-defense nonprofits can hold the line on working conditions without disrupting representation for low-income defendants.
The story so far
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Jul 23, 2026 Latest
About 500 Brooklyn Defender Services and Queens Defenders attorneys and support staff ended their strike with a tentative agreement dropping the location-tracking app, the union's first contract win under Mamdani.
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Jul 17, 2026
About 500 public defenders and support staff at Brooklyn Defender Services and Queens Defenders went on strike over wages, sick time and a location-tracking app, threatening delays in Brooklyn and Queens courts.
Gothamist 
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