The campaign to unionize Capitol Hill took another step forward Thursday, as the Congressional Workers Union announced that committee staffers filed to hold union elections for the first time.
Minority staffers on the House Education and the Workforce Committee have asked the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to hold unionization elections, those workers and the CWU said in a joint statement. To date, only a handful of House member offices and one Senate office have unionized; if the Democratic aides on the committee vote in favor, they’ll form the first union attached to a standing committee rather than to the office of an individual elected official.
“As employees of the House committee charged with protecting workers’ rights, we are thrilled to be the first congressional committee in history to petition for a union,” the Democratic staffers said. “We hope this can be an opportunity for Committee Democrats to lead by example and practice what they preach: supporting every worker’s fundamental right to organize and negotiate for better working conditions.”
