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MISSION STATEMENT

The legal system, in its current form, functions to protect and advance the capitalist system and those who benefit most from it, particularly multinational corporations and corrupt oligarchs. The system has erected expensive, bureaucratic barriers for workers seeking to organize against it, and the meager mechanisms that do exist are often inaccessible, hidden behind a paywall, or cloaked in mysterious legal jargon. Our goal is to change that by empowering workers, organized and unorganized, to stand as their own advocates and masters of their own destinies.

We also recognize that true power and change comes not from the law but from the workers themselves, which is why, rather than just focusing on pro bono representation, we prioritize self-empowerment through trainings and educational resources, so that every step of organizing that doesn’t require a lawyer is handled by the rank-and-file.

Right now, the National Labor Relations Act (Act), imperfect as it is, is under attack and being challenged as unconstitutional. While we fight to preserve and strengthen the NLRB as a useful tool in resisting capitalism’s onslaught, we simultaneously understand that worker power does not derive from the Act, but from the collective power of workers on the shop floor who are struggling everyday to push back against never-ending attacks on their livelihoods. 

In furtherance of our mission, ION provides workers with: 

• Hands-on organizing support from experienced rank-and-file organizers and tacticians;

• Comprehensive legal training and connections to a network of labor and employment attorneys ready to provide pro bono advice and/or representation; and, 

• Wide-reaching networks of solidarity and support from other worker-led unions, campaigns, and coalitions from all over the country.

THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD

ION is a committee/initiative of the National Lawyers Guild (“NLG”) - Massachusetts Chapter. NLG works to change the structure of our political and economic system. NLG seeks to unite the legal community with organizers and activists in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests. You can learn more about NLG here.