Posts tagged Legislative staff
Raises for one union not funded in WA budget, leading to finger-pointing
May 19, 2025 // Leaders for the WPEA say a failure to fund a new contract could impact thousands of state government employees such as food safety officers, commercial vehicle enforcement officers, and wildfire fighters. Some contracts for WPEA locals were funded, including for employees at the Yakima Valley College and for Senate and House Democratic legislative staff. But WPEA contracts for general government and higher education employees, which represent the bulk of the union, were not. Many state agencies employ a mix of those represented by WPEA or WFSE.
Democratic legislative staff in Washington approve first-ever labor contract
January 13, 2025 // The contracts also outline new ways to resolve conflicts between elected officials and legislative staff. And there are provisions to create a “transition” pool for union members facing the loss of a job because the lawmaker they work for retires, loses re-election or leaves office for another reason. Knapp said the Senate contract lays out how a person facing the loss of work could get a job as a session aide to avoid unemployment. There’s also language ensuring the employer provides workers, who are at-will employees, with two weeks notice before being let go or two weeks pay if fired.
Union votes herald a new era for workers in Washington Legislature
July 11, 2024 // One petition covers 82 legislative assistants, policy analysts and communications staff of the House Democratic Caucus. The other is for 32 legislative assistants in the Senate Democratic Caucus. Both seek to be represented by the Washington Public Employees Association. Under Washington’s law, employees of the Democratic and Republican caucuses in each chamber must be in separate units unless a majority of each caucus votes to be in the same unit. However, units can negotiate collectively on economic issues, like wages and benefits, with the employers, which are the chief clerk of the House and secretary of the Senate. When bargaining begins, several subjects are off-limits, such as the length of the work day during a legislative session, as well as in the 60 calendar days before a session and the 20 days afterward.
Vermont Senate unanimously passes amendment ensuring workers’ right to unionize
April 4, 2024 // Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth, A Democrat/Progressive from Chittenden, told his colleagues that it's critical to "enshrine" the authority of labor unions in Vermont at a time when they are under siege in several other states. "When I look at this particular amendment, I look on it very much as I did the amendment we made to the constitution in terms of reproductive rights. We are strengthening what we have, and we're protecting it from going away, which can happen in the legislative blink of an eye."
Another union push from legislative staffers
September 22, 2023 // Last July, Senate President Karen Spilka refused to recognize a union push by staffers to affiliate with IBEW Local 2222. State law allows employees in the executive or judicial branch to unionize, but not those who work in the Legislature. Legislation filed by Sen. John Keenan and Rep. Patrick Kearney would change the law and allow legislative staff to unionize.
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.