Sign On: Petition Demanding Rescinding of NYLAG Union Member Suspensions (A Better NYLAG-UAW 2325)

Sign On: Petition Demanding Rescinding of NYLAG Union Member Suspensions

Sign on to support our comrades Clara Sanchez-Vela, Jared Riser, Cam Molyneaux, Maya Leggat, Sarah Chung, and Navruz Baum who have been issued unjust suspensions without pay for concerted union activity protesting NYLAG’s discriminatory poster policy which bans anything related to Palestine in the office and personal work areas.

Petition: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-N-7xPodtduXUuE1aNI_TLt288HmKFyMnFoP31FkPYQ/edit?usp=sharing 

Contact us at: abetternylag@gmail.com  

TO THE NEW YORK LEGAL ASSISTANCE GROUP:

We, the undersigned members and allies of A Better NYLAG (ABN) and UAW Local 2325 – the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, stand united against at New York Legal Assistance Group’s outrageous decision to suspend Clara Sanchez-Vela, Jared Riser, Cam Molyneaux, Maya Leggat, Navruz Baum, and Sarah Chung without pay. We stand together in demanding the immediate rescission of their suspensions which have been issued in retaliation for protected concerted union activity and pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Clara, Jared, Cam, Maya, Navruz, and Sarah are hardworking staff at NYLAG who have dedicated their invaluable experience in civil law and benefits advocacy, their compassion and empathy to vulnerable clients, and their time beyond normal work hours, to the boasted success of NYLAG’s Tenants’ Rights Unit. Clara is a coordinating paralegal with the Tenants’ Rights Unit (TRU), as well as the Non-Attorney Union Representative. Jared is a senior and coordinating staff attorney with TRU, and has been a longstanding mentor on his team. Cam is a staff attorney with TRU, and the ABN Chapter Chair. Maya Leggat is a staff attorney with TRU, and the Union Disability Caucus Representative. Navruz Baum is a paralegal with TRU, as well as the Recording Secretary of UAW 2325 ALAA. Sarah Chung is a staff attorney with the Legal Health Unit (LHU).

Their suspensions come after over a year of concerted union activity protesting NYLAG’s overly broad and racist poster policy instituted in May 2024, which banned the posting of anything related to the “Israel-Gaza conflict” in staff’s personal work areas, in order to avoid “incendiary and harmful” displays and create a “safe and welcome” environment for staff and clients. Since the institution of this policy, NYLAG has stolen countless items from its staff, including Palestinian flags, pro-Palestine posters, and pins and posters protesting the policy itself. NYLAG has hidden staff property from view on their desks, including watermelon or strawberry pins and plushies, and keffiyeh scarves.

Clara, Jared, Cam, Maya, Navruz, and Sarah have been suspended for refusing to desist putting up a poster at their personal work stations, which displays the phrase “NYLAG Silences Workers” superimposed over  a singular watermelon, along with a definition of a watermelon and a definition of unfair labor practice included below. This is clear retaliation in violation of the National Labor Relations Act. 

Other posters that they and other staff have displayed are necessarily related to the terms and conditions of their employment at NYLAG – protesting the cessation of medical visas for Palestinian children; protesting the unjust and illegal kidnapping of pro-Palestinian journalists, professors, and advocates by ICE; protesting the starvation of the people in Gaza.

It’s not just these four who have been targeted. Dozens of  staff at NYLAG have been subjected to selective discipline for having Palestinian flags at their desk, pins of strawberries or watermelons, and for displaying the posters protesting the poster ban. Many have received written warnings and been threatened with suspension and termination if they do not comply.

To date, NYLAG has provided no basis to conclude that the image of a watermelon is incendiary, harmful, and the reason for an unsafe and unwelcome work environment. The watermelon is a well known symbol of the Palestinian flag, which has been used as a symbol of Palestinian identity and the fight against oppression since 1967, when the Israeli government banned the public display of the Palestinian flag. 

To date, NYLAG has refused to meet with the Union or Staff to reevaluate the overly broad poster policy. Instead, in every disciplinary meeting where staff has voiced their disgust, concerns, and worries about the censorship and overt discrimination the policy allows, NYLAG has refused to engage.

NYLAG has stated, when threatening these suspensions, that “compliance is our goal.” In this time, when we are actively witnessing one of the greatest atrocities committed by mankind, when our country is rapidly descending into an openly fascist state, NYLAG all too quickly shed its image as a social justice oriented civil rights organization in order to silence any pro-Palestinian support from its workers.

NYLAG, know this: we are all with Clara, Jared, Cam, Maya, Navruz, and Sarah. Your targeted and discriminatory discipline will not be meted out in silence or compliance. We will come to you and we will not stop—we will be at your offices, we will go to your funders, we will be at your publicity events. We will organize. Your hypocrisy will be made known entirely—that you discipline your workers for the type of human rights advocacy that you purport to be the creed of your organization.

We are putting you on notice. Rescind the suspensions immediately. You will not have to contend with only a grievance, you will have to contend with the mobilization of the UAW in full public view.

RESCIND SUSPENSIONS NOW. RESCIND THE PALESTINE POSTER BAN POLICY NOW.

Add your name here.

1. Jon Bash, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
2. Christina Brown, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
3. Navruz Baum, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
4. Max Baumbach, UAW 2325 ALAA
5. Shelly Pires, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
6. Cameron Molyneaux, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
7. Zachory Nowosadzki, UAW 2325 ALAA
8. Marcus Hyde, UAW 2325 ALAA
9. Maya Leggat, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
10. Lizaury Rodriguez Marine, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
11. Reid Murdoch, Esq., Urban Justice Center Union, UAW 2325 ALAA
12. Conor J Hyatt, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
13. Jeremy Montano, CFR, UAW 2325 ALAA
14. Sophia Elena Gurulé, UAW 2325 ALAA
15. Ashley A. Pinilla, The Bronx Defenders, UAW 2325 ALAA
16. Maria Nava Palma, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
17. Ana Maria Cardenas, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
18. Claudia Pepe, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
19. Sarah Merchant, UAW 2325 – ALAA
20. Samuel Steinbock-Pratt, UAW 2325 – ALAA
21. Hibah Siddiqui, UAW 2325 – ALAA
22. Mary Orsini, UAW 2325 – ALAA
23. Diana Rosen, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
24. Jeanyna Garcia, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
25. Sam Feldman, UAW 2325 ALAA
26. Ben K, UAW 2325 ALAA
27. Meaghan Whyte, MFJ Union, UAW 2325 ALAA
28. Craig Hughes, LSSA 2320
29. Jasmin Acevedo, UAW 7902
30. Brian Holbrook, UAW 2325 ALAA
31. Michael Letwin, UAW Labor for Palestine Labor for Palestine National Network, UAW 2325 ALAA
32. Selma Oprasic, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
33. Katie Krumpter, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
34. Pooja Patel, UAW 2325 ALAA
35. Clara Sanchez-Vela, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
36. Sarah Chaudhry, UAW 2325 ALAA
37. Matthew Sunday, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
38. Alessandra Talabong, Other Affiliation
39. Melanie Nault, UAW 2325 ALAA
40. Jen Seidman, LAS Attorneys United, UAW 2325 ALAA
41. Kate Macrae, UAW 2325 ALAA
42. Mary Houlihan, SAG-AFTRA
43. Ian Renstrom, Other Affiliation
44. Rachel Nass, CWA1032, CWA for Palestine
45. Bryan Fotino, UAW 2325 ALAA
46. Flora Sugarman, UAW 2325 ALAA
47. Payton Fisher, MFJ shop, UAW 2325 ALAA 
48. Ronin Commandeur, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
49. Jack Peterson, UAW 2179
50. Julie Pavlova, Other Affiliation
51. Pedro Sepulveda, Jr., Former NYLAG Employee
52. Stephanie Avila, Other Affiliation
53. Lara Russo, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
54. Sonya Chung, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
55. Marianna Sheedy, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
56. Kaitlin Mak, Other Affiliation
57. Lucy Herschel, 1199SEIU
58. Jota Borgmann, MFJ, UAW 2325 ALAA
59. Zachory Nowosadzki, UAW 2325 ALAA
60. Erin Strader, HKO, UAW 2325 ALAA
61. Jessica Coffrin-St. Julien, UAW 2325 ALAA
62. Maddie Goldstein, UAW 2325 ALAA
63. Madison Koenig, The Legal Aid Society, UAW 2325 ALAA 
64. Calvin Harrison, UJC Union, UAW 2325 ALAA
65. Matilde Arellano, A Better NYLAG, UAW 2325 ALAA
66. Stephen Kpundeh, Legal Aid Society, UAW 2325 ALAA 
67. Paige Maier, GRLPU, UAW 2325 ALAA 
68. Gabriel Flores, UAW 2325 ALAA