Pamela Jeffrey

Pamela Jeffrey (State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, J.D; Barnard College, B.A.), began her career in labor when she became a rank and file activist and then a staff organizer on District 65, UAW’s organizing drive at Columbia University that resulted in a ground‑breaking contract for university support staff.  Jeffrey currently serves as General Counsel to 1199SEIU, representing over 400,000 healthcare workers.   Jeffrey has devoted her legal career to representing unions and workers in the robust exercise of their rights including in collective bargaining, arbitrations, internal union governance, litigation and before the National Labor Relations Board in unfair labor practice and representation proceedings.

In addition to her extensive labor work, Jeffrey has represented plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases, including Latino Officers Ass’n, et. al, v. City of New York, et al., a class action case involving discrimination in the NYPD’s internal disciplinary system.

Jeffrey currently finds inspiration in the growing number of younger workers organizing with unions including at cultural institutions in NYC and digital media throughout the country and by recent strikes in various industries that provide inspiring examples of the power of collective action to win gains, change hearts and minds and propel others to use their collective power to achieve justice at their workplaces and beyond.

Jeffrey regularly speaks and writes and on a variety of labor and employment topics.

Jeffrey is a member of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law and is currently Union/Employee co-chair of its Committee on Practice and Procedure under the NLRA.