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Workers at the Marion County Public Defender Agency are rallying Monday as part of their union’s efforts to secure a contract with city-county leadership.
More than a dozen demonstrators donning red union shirts stood outside of the agency’s Southeastern Avenue office, chanting “Listen up, Ray!” and “What do we want? A fair contract. When do we want it? Now.” It was part of the union’s full-day effort to secure a contract under new Chief Public Defender Ray Casanova.
Employees at the agency unionized with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 481. Lance Bradbury, a business representative with IBEW Local 481, said arbitration is the cause of the impasse.
Public defenders are assigned to defendants who cannot afford an attorney. City leaders formally recognized the union in December 2023, but contract negotiations remain unresolved. The unit has about 270 members.
Tim Smith, a social worker with the agency and a leader on the union’s negotiation committee, said the union has “given in on a lot of things.” Arbitration, a process in which both the employer and the union go to a third party to settle labor disputes, isn’t one of them.
For example, this would allow the union to appeal a firing as unfair, while leadership contests it is fair. An arbiter would make the final determination.
“We’ve come to this impasse where arbitration is not being dealt with fairly [by city leaders],” Smith said. “Without arbitration, we technically cannot enforce our contract.”
The terms of the union’s initial contract have been under negotiation for a year. Under city code, the two parties have 120 days to negotiate after their first meeting before the either party can declare an impasse on negotiation efforts and go to mediation, Bradbury said. However, the organization that the ordinance gives the power to provide mediation, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, has shut down due to recent federal cuts. That leaves them with no third-party mediation option.
“We’re hoping that the city and the agency want to come back to the table and talk further about arbitration language and how to make it work, but they haven’t really shown a willingness to do that,” Bradbury said. “It really feels like they haven’t been bargaining in good faith.”
A city spokesperson told IBJ both parties have agreed on all other terms of the contract but disagree on when decisions made by a third-party arbiter should be final and binding.
According to the city, union representatives have asked that arbiter decisions be followed for all grievances, except those related to caseloads. However, the city has asked that carveouts be added for situations in which management needs to determine compliance with the American Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct.
The city said these carveouts were made upon the recommendation of the Indiana Disciplinary Commission, a board of attorneys that makes ethical determinations for lawyers across the state. The carveout is necessary, the city said, to prevent agency employees from facing disciplinary action from the commission based on the decisions of an arbiter.
Bradbury said the union feels the city’s proposals are not consistent with the Indiana Disciplinary Commission’s recommendations. Instead, he argued the city’s proposal is overbroad and does not allow for third-party review in most situations that involve hiring, firing and promotions.
Lucy Frick, a union organizer and public defender for major felony cases, told IBJ that the first contract is necessary to establish structure and processes moving forward.
“I am doing everything I know how to make this a sustainable job that attracts good talent, that retains good talent,” Frick said. “But if our Chief [Public Defender Casanova] and if the city refuse to concede on arbitration, we really don’t have a union at that point. We just don’t have a union.”
Low salaries, heavy workloads and staff turnover caused the workers to start the unionizing process in 2021, Frick told IBJ. As a major felony attorney, Frick had 71 cases due to pandemic-fueled delays.
“Our jobs have always been unsustainable, but COVID really brought that into sharp relief,” she said.
Pay at the agency lags, especially when compared to private-sector attorney salaries. Axios Indianapolis reported last September that openings at the Marion County Public Defender’s office for non-entry-level attorneys had salaries ranging from $74,000 to $85,000. The average attorney salary in Indiana is about $111,613, according to Glassdoor.
The vast majority of public defender unions have arbitration in their contracts, Frick added, and the Marion County union would be in the minority if it did not. Similar unions exist in Minnesota, where public defenders are in a statewide system, and in cities like Louisville, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
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