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NOLSW Forward Leads Union to Declare Support for BDS and Opposition to U.S. Imperialism
By: Siobhan M.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent the official position of Working Mass.
BOSTON, MA – The National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW, UAW 2320) emerged from our 2025 National Joint Council (NJC) and National Executive Board (NEB) elections energized to fight for the rights of our members, as well as for the working-class and oppressed people across the world. The NOLSW Forward slate swept the union’s 13-member NEB, including seven DSA members, with a vision rooted in social, economic, and racial justice. The slate—elected as the new NEB by acclamation after our strong NJC showing—aims to transform NOLSW into a militant organization capable of challenging capitalism, imperialism, and state repression.
The NJC is our 7,000-member union’s highest delegated body and included over 120 delegates from across the country.
The core programming of the NJC spanned three days. On Monday, July 21, delegates participated in workshops on topics like labor history, sectoral bargaining, and solidarity with Palestine. On Tuesday, the delegation traveled to the Capitol to advocate for healthcare and homes for all before, on Wednesday, holding our business meeting to deliberate and chart our course for the coming year. Delegates voted overwhelmingly to adopt plans to build sectoral bargaining campaigns in several cities, support immigrants, transgender people, and Palestinians, and amend bylaws to improve our internal democracy and transparency, among other decisions.
Much of the initiative behind these resolutions came from the NOLSW Forward slate.
Affirming Our Solidarity
As the UAW’s only nationally-amalgamated local, NOLSW has over 150 bargaining units spread out across dozens of states. Practically, this makes it difficult for our members to meet and organize with each other across units. By UAW’s rules, each of our units also has autonomy to decide their own contracts. However, our union is taking steps to amplify our power, recognizing that the working class is strongest when it is united.
Taking inspiration from the NYC-based Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA, UAW 2325), NJC delegates voted to create a Sectoral Bargaining Committee tasked with coordinating bargaining campaigns in 2028 and beyond. This past summer, 2,000 ALAA workers from 11 shops who had aligned their contract expirations all went on strike with some common goals, including a $70,000 wage floor for all workers. Legal aid workers make the U.S. legal system run, so this collective strike was immensely disruptive. Each unit negotiated with their own management, and each made their own contract decisions, so strike lengths varied—Bronx Defenders Union reached a tentative agreement almost immediately while other units were striking for weeks. The resulting contracts did not meet all of workers’ demands, but they featured some significant wins, including wages of at least $70,000 per year for all workers at the Office of the Appellate Defender.
NOLSW wants to learn from and build on ALAA’s 2025 campaign. While focused on areas where we have density—including Massachusetts, New York, Chicago, Texas, and the Bay Area—we’re committed to “do everything in [our] power to assist and support any shop that chooses to participate in sectoral bargaining.” One element of these contract fights will be protecting our transgender and nonbinary members from the Trump administration’s attacks on our healthcare and public existence. Per another 2025 NJC resolution, our members will be equipped with model contract language to fight for gender-affirming care and workplace nondiscrimination protections,
Our solidarity doesn’t stop with our union siblings. As legal aid and human services workers who spend our lives helping some of U.S. society’s most vulnerable people, NOLSW members understand the need to merge our workplace struggles with those of working and oppressed people in our neighborhoods and around the world. Our members are among those on the front lines against the Trump administration’s deportations, both in immigration courtrooms and on the streets. Our NJC delegates voted to become a Sanctuary Local, with commitments like a refusal to cooperate with federal agents, “Know Your Rights” trainings for immigrants and protestors, legal observation and mutual aid for those targeted by police, and political advocacy for pro-immigrant policies at all levels of government.
Delegates also reaffirmed our solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposed U.S. military intervention across the world. Building on 2024’s Resolution for the Liberation of Palestine, the 2025 iteration urged units to divest their retirement plans, endorsed the Mask Off Maersk campaign against arms shipments, and pledged to defend members facing discipline for standing with Palestine. It also demanded “the U.S. government immediately stop engaging in and supporting foreign wars and otherwise taking and supporting military actions abroad” and called on the UAW, AFL-CIO, and all other bodies to which we send delegates to refuse support to any politician out of step with these values. This gives our representatives on these bodies a mandate from membership to stand with Palestine.
Democratizing National Leadership
NOLSW Forward’s goals also included some internal reforms to improve union democracy and transparency. We passed bylaw amendments to have more frequent national meetings and improve a system of collective leadership among the NEB. We will invite our members in to organize with us, proactively sharing Zoom links and notes for NEB meetings with membership. Our union knows we’re strongest when we are united, and we hope to build a working-class movement for peace, justice, and liberation across the world.
Siobhan M. is a Trustee on the NOLSW National Executive Board, elected by acclamation as part of the NOLSW Forward slate. The views expressed herein are her own.
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