Washington — Staffers in Democratic Rep. Andy Levin's workplace have voted to type a union, changing into the primary in Congress to take action, in keeping with the Congressional Staff Union.
The vote final week was the primary union election in a congressional workplace in U.S. historical past, the Congressional Staff Union mentioned Monday. Staffers for Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar are additionally holding union elections this week.
"It's with nice delight we announce the landslide union election victory in Congressman Andy Levin's workplace," the Congressional Staff Union mentioned in an announcement. "Whereas exercising their proper to vote, the employees clearly and emphatically expressed their want to discount collectively and have a seat on the desk to find out office situations and advantages. CWU is ecstatic to assist these staff as we transfer to the bargaining desk and negotiate a contract consultant of staff' wants for the primary time in congressional historical past."
In an announcement, Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, mentioned he was "happy with their bravery and initiative" and "look[s] ahead to bargaining a simply contract with the Congressional Staff Union."
Levin pushed a profitable invoice to permit Home staffers to type unions and collectively discount that handed in a party-line vote in Could. Congress had already authorised a framework for staffers to unionize in 1995, however hadn't adopted as much as go a proper set of rules permitting staffers to start the method.
Unionization is taken into account workplace by workplace, and solely staffers within the Home, not the Senate, can unionize. Unionized staffers are additionally restricted in negotiating wages.
Earlier this 12 months, Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced a minimal wage for Home staffers of $45,000. There beforehand had been no minimal wage.
Entry-level staffers on Capitol Hill are notoriously underpaid in an space with a excessive value of residing, a dynamic that usually prevents younger individuals who do not come from prosperous households from engaged on the Hill. The decrease salaries result in congressional staffers being much less various than the U.S. inhabitants as an entire, and may lead skilled staffers to depart the Hill for the personal sector, taking with them institutional data.