Employees at 8 House offices take first steps to unionize

CNN
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Staff members from eight House member offices filed petitions on Monday for union representation in the Congressional Labor Rights Office, organizers said in a statement Monday, two months after the House passed a resolution protecting the right of Congress staff to bargain collectively.

According to the Congressional Workers Union website, House members whose staff have filed petitions include Democratic Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri, Chuy Garcia of Illinois, Ro Khanna of California, Andy Levin of Michigan, Ted Lieu of California, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.

“July 18 will go down as a historic day for Congressional staff and our democracy, marking the day our protected rights to organize and bargain collectively will come into full effect,” the Congressional Workers Union wrote in a statement published in a series of tweets.

“After several months of organizing to establish these protections for House staff, we join 85 congressional workers in taking the next step in our organizing campaign by filing a union election in 8 offices of the House of Representatives. of the United States,” the statement continued.

Levin, who sponsored the House resolution, said in a statement that he was “so proud of the staff members who made a historic gesture today by seeking union recognition in 8 offices with more than 70 workers at the House, and I am incredibly humbled and honored to have played a small role in helping realize the hard work of the congressional staff who fought to make this happen.

“As a former labor organizer and someone who has spent decades in the labor movement, I know how important it is to keep the spotlight on people today, it really is: workers,” he continued. “It is the workers who ensure that this institution – the foundation of our fragile and precious democracy – functions effectively and serves the American people here on Capitol Hill and in every corner of our nation.”