Posts tagged Congressional Workers Union
Unanswered questions surround unionizing effort by congressional staffers
July 26, 2022 // For starters, congressional offices have different budgets from which to draw salaries for staff — and those amounts are fixed once decided annually. That makes bargaining across multiple personal member offices difficult, as even ideologically aligned members of Congress may have differences in their personnel budget and staffing structure. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, House Compensation and Diversity Study, Census Bureau, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Staffers at eight House offices become first to unionize
July 20, 2022 // Congressional workers at eight United States House offices have started unionizing, two months after the House approved a resolution giving them legal protection to organize. A total of 85 House staff workers filed petitions Monday for representation at the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, according to the Congressional Workers Union which called it a "historic day for congressional staff and our democracy." Rep. Cori Bush of Montana, Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia of Illinois, Reps. Ro Khanna and Ted Lieu of California, Rep. Andy Levin of Michigan, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.
“Dear White Staffers” Speaks: Inside the Effort to Unionize Capitol Hill
July 19, 2022 // To join the CWU, a simple majority of workers in a given Hill office must vote to unionize. Each House office that joins CWU will serve as its own collective bargaining unit represented by members elected from their own ranks. How things will unfold on the Senate side still isn’t settled. “I don’t know what the process is,” said Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown on Monday. “It’s up to the Rules Committee, I assume.”
House gives green light to staffer unionization
May 12, 2022 // The Congressional Workers Union has labored behind the scenes for months to jump-start the unionization process among House offices. And they're not alone.
House tees up vote on union protections for staffers
May 9, 2022 // The resolution introduced by Rep. Andy Levin would address that by finishing a process the House began more than a quarter-century ago. When lawmakers passed the Congressional Accountability Act in 1995, they essentially removed a legislative branch exception to numerous federal statutes, including labor laws. But the House never took the final step of approving regulations issued by the Office of Compliance, now the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights.
Does Democrats’ support for unions extend to their own employees?
April 22, 2022 // The CWU, a group of staffers that launched a union drive earlier this year, wants the House to vote on a resolution guaranteeing staffers protections as soon as next week. Currently, the Congressional Accountability Act allows staffers to organize, but doesn’t offer them any shield from retaliation, meaning staffers could be fired and blacklisted if they do so. Thus far, Pelosi’s office has not commented on when a floor vote could be scheduled on the resolution.
Hill staffers are organizing. What could their unions look like?
February 9, 2022 // Amid ‘overwhelming’ response, staffers run up against convoluted structure of Congress
Congressional Staffers Unionize After Viral Instagram Account Exposes Poor Working Conditions
February 4, 2022 // “While not all offices and committees face the same working conditions, we strongly believe that to better serve our constituents will require meaningful changes to improve retention, equity, diversity and inclusion on Capitol Hill,” the union said in a statement. “That starts with having a voice in the workplace.”