Posts tagged Brigette Herbst
California lawmakers to let legislative staffers unionize
September 22, 2023 // “Unionizing staffers in legislative offices makes no sense because it creates more problems than it solves,” says Brigette Herbst, senior organizing director for AFFT and a former state legislative staffer. “How does unionization work with the long and unpredictable hours during a legislative session? How will elected officials handle untrustworthy staffers? Union organizers haven’t answered these important questions.” Herbst also raised concerns about unions’ connection to lobbying. Legislative staff often meet with lobbyists (including union lobbyists) on behalf of the lawmakers they work for, and Herbst believes that could result in an unfair allocation of state resources.
A Legislative Staff Unionization Wave is Hitting Blue State Capitols
August 8, 2022 // Frustrated by low pay and long hours, state house staffers in Massachusetts, California, New York and Washington state are seeking to organize. They hope to join their counterparts in Oregon, who became the first in the nation to unionize in 2021. The organizing effort in state capitols mirrors a similar push in Congress. In May, the Democratically-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution giving congressional staffers the legal right to negotiate over salaries, schedules, pay disparities, promotion policies and other workplace issues without the threat of retaliation. Since then, aides to eight progressive lawmakers have unionized. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Ruth Milkman, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2222, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Senate President Karen Spilka,
What Kids Have Learned from Teachers Unions
March 4, 2022 // If teachers unions really championed teachers and students, they would not have diminished the value of teachers by implying virtual school is the equivalent of a teacher in a classroom. So many parents and students have had to live in uncertainty the last two years, wondering if schools would be open or their children would be quarantined over and over again. What does that say about how much we as a society value schools and education? The unions had the opportunity to present teachers as essential workers who knew their job of educating young minds was of the upmost importance. Instead, they devalued public education in a way that will have lasting effects.