Rep. Andy Levin, a Michigan Democrat, speaks at a rally outside the US Capitol.
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Rep. Andy Levin introduced a resolution that would allow House of Representative staff to organize.
Rep. Andy Levin introduced a resolution that would allow House of Representative staff to organize.
Congressional staff has been agitating for a union after years of workplace issues.
Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have said they'd back staff's plans to unionize.
Rep. Andy Levin will introduced a resolution on Wednesday giving staffers in the House of Representatives the green light to form unions in their offices and committees. Should the resolution pass, it could eventually alter Congress's grueling work culture and practices.
The Michigan Democrat unveiled the legislation a week after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated she'd support employees who wanted to organize, and one day after White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden was on board with the effort. While congressional support agencies like the Capitol Police and Library of Congress have been allowed to unionize for some time — and have — the resolution would extend those powers to House employees in individual members' offices and on committees. (You can read the resolution below.)
Employees who wish to unionize point to historically low pay, a lack of accountability for bad behavior by lawmakers and managers, and poor gains in diversifying Congress' workforce as key reasons for seeking greater labor protections. Their case got a significant boost as an anonymous Instagram account called Dear White Staffers began posting staffers' experiences with sexual harassment or living on food stamps, causing it to explode in popularity on Capitol Hill.
Publicly, the organizing fervor is only occurring on the Democratic side; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, told Punchbowl News that, "I don't think it would be productive for the government."
Congressional staffers are allowed to unionize thanks to the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 — but the act also requires a resolution in each chamber for the necessary provisions to go into effect.
"You built the car but you have to turn it on," Daniel Schuman, policy director at Demand Progress, said of the legislative mechanism. "The resolution will turn it on."
Levin posted a video of himself filing the resolution on Wednesday morning "to let our employees form unions and bargain collectively at long last."
It's unclear how the process would then play out. With hundreds of separate offices and committees and a high turnover rate, organizing the House of Representatives would be an unprecedented and likely messy challenge.
A spokesperson for Pelosi declined to comment on whether she'd support Levin's resolution, or put it up for a vote in the House.
On the Senate side, a few Democratic lawmakers have tweeted support for allowing staff to unionize after a spokesperson for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the New York Democrat "believes that hard-working Senate staff have the right to organize their workplace and if they chose to do so, he would support that effort."
But so far, no Democratic senators have put forth the necessary resolution to give their employees organizing rights.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat who was one of the senators to tweet that staff should be allowed to unionize, told Insider, "I think a number of my colleagues are working on it already. So I'll look at that."
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont hailed bringing collective bargaining to the Capitol as a step in the right direction — albeit one that might require more groundwork."We'll take a look, not right at this moment," he told Insider while walking through the Senate tunnels. "But it's certainly an idea that appeals to me."
Bryan Metzger contributed to this report.
Congressional Workers Union launches organizing effort as Pelosi and Schumer say they support Capitol Hill staffers' unionization efforts
Unionization efforts gain momentum on Capitol Hill
BY NIKOLE KILLION
FEBRUARY 9, 2022 / CBS NEWS
Washington — Michigan Congressman Andy Levin is introducing a resolution Wednesday that would formally allow House staffers to form unions and engage in collective bargaining.
"It basically effectuates something that Congress did for everybody else who works for us except our personal office staff and our committee staff," the Democratic lawmaker Levin told CBS News. "It's a really big deal."
The resolution calls for "approving certain regulations to implement provisions of the Congressional Accountability Act." That 1995 legislation extended labor protections to support legislative branch employees and entities like the U.S. Capitol Police, Library of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol but it stopped short of fully covering House and Senate staff.
"This resolution simply says what we did back then, now we are applying to the staff who work in our personal offices and in our district offices and in our committees and it's about time," Levin said.
The unionization movement accelerated on Capitol Hill last week after an Instagram account dubbed "Dear White Staffers" went viral with grievances from anonymous staffers about low pay, lack of diversity and hostile work environments.
A report by the cross-partisan reform group, Issue One, found one in eight congressional staffers aren't paid a living wage, with staff assistants earning a median annual salary of $38,730. A separate survey by the Congressional Progressive Staff Association found that 39 percent of respondents have taken out a loan to make ends meet.
Republican leaders say they oppose staffers' efforts to unionize but a growing number of Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have expressed support for the move. The White House said President Biden is also on board.
"He supports the right of any individual to seek to join a union, to collectively bargain, and of course Capitol Hill staffers are certainly individuals who are pursuing that," Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
It's unclear how soon Levin's resolution could be taken up by the full House. If approved, he said it would be up to staffers to decide how to organize.
"I think this is a part of a much broader movement in society," Levin explained. "You had industry after industry start to form unions, Amazon, now we have Starbucks … and Capitol Hill is not exempt."
BY NIKOLE KILLION
FEBRUARY 9, 2022 / CBS NEWS
Washington — Michigan Congressman Andy Levin is introducing a resolution Wednesday that would formally allow House staffers to form unions and engage in collective bargaining.
"It basically effectuates something that Congress did for everybody else who works for us except our personal office staff and our committee staff," the Democratic lawmaker Levin told CBS News. "It's a really big deal."
The resolution calls for "approving certain regulations to implement provisions of the Congressional Accountability Act." That 1995 legislation extended labor protections to support legislative branch employees and entities like the U.S. Capitol Police, Library of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol but it stopped short of fully covering House and Senate staff.
"This resolution simply says what we did back then, now we are applying to the staff who work in our personal offices and in our district offices and in our committees and it's about time," Levin said.
The unionization movement accelerated on Capitol Hill last week after an Instagram account dubbed "Dear White Staffers" went viral with grievances from anonymous staffers about low pay, lack of diversity and hostile work environments.
A report by the cross-partisan reform group, Issue One, found one in eight congressional staffers aren't paid a living wage, with staff assistants earning a median annual salary of $38,730. A separate survey by the Congressional Progressive Staff Association found that 39 percent of respondents have taken out a loan to make ends meet.
Republican leaders say they oppose staffers' efforts to unionize but a growing number of Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have expressed support for the move. The White House said President Biden is also on board.
"He supports the right of any individual to seek to join a union, to collectively bargain, and of course Capitol Hill staffers are certainly individuals who are pursuing that," Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
It's unclear how soon Levin's resolution could be taken up by the full House. If approved, he said it would be up to staffers to decide how to organize.
"I think this is a part of a much broader movement in society," Levin explained. "You had industry after industry start to form unions, Amazon, now we have Starbucks … and Capitol Hill is not exempt."
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