Unions are shrinking all across America. This is especially true in the private sector, where most younger workers find them irrelevant. But that doesn’t mean the gig is up for unions. It just means that organizers have to become more creative.
Enter the campaign workers’ union. Marie Newman, a Democrat, is running to unseat the last moderate House Democrat, Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., in next Tuesday’s primary. With just a few days to go before the election, something called the Campaign Workers’ Guild has announced that its members have ratified a collective bargaining agreement with her campaign. The guild describes itself as “a new independent national union representing non-management workers on electoral and issue-based campaigns.”
Campaign workers for Marie Newman, Democratic candidate for IL-03, announced the ratification of a collective bargaining agreement Wednesday. Bargaining unit members negotiated a contract that includes basic guarantees such as living wages, reimbursement of standard work-related expenses, and protection from sexual harassment and discrimination.
“One of the most electrifying aspects of this movement is the energy and excitement of CWG members, and this bargaining unit’s energy is off the charts,” said Meg Reilly, Vice President of the Campaign Workers Guild. “Campaign workers are finally getting to experience what it feels like to bargain collectively, stand together, and improve their working conditions. There are no words to express what solidarity is until you’ve felt it — and workers for Marie Newman are feeling it.”
“Instead of letting the tough conditions and pay disparities of campaign work divide us, my coworkers and I came together to assert our power and make improvements. My sense of solidarity with my coworkers, and campaign workers everywhere, has grown so much as a result of taking action together” said Eric Holmberg, Field Organizer for Marie Newman for Congress. “This campaign is all about living up to progressive values. We formed a union to enact those values in our own workplace.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a campaign staff unionizing before today, but it turns out that this group has been working to sabotage — er, I mean unionize — Democratic campaigns since February.
My first question is, in what way were these workers abused such that they’d feel the need? Or is this just a gimmick that has less to do with campaign workers’ needs than with an illusion of workers’ solidarity in the Democratic Party? Or, okay, assuming this is really the love-fest that the above email suggests, I wonder how other Democratic candidates around the nation are going to feel about it. How long until it becomes a matter of routine for Democratic candidates to ask why their opponents haven’t hired unionized campaign workers? And in the event that unionized campaigns find success, will the workers go on to become unionized Hill staffers?
If the campaign union catches on as an institution, it could get even more interesting, because it will surely be in only one party. Will the Guild hold out for shorter hours and more pay, making Democratic campaigns more expensive and less effective? Are we looking at a future in which campaign workers punch out at 5 p.m. and get time and a half for weekends, or can’t be fired for embarrassing the candidate?
Even better: Will they ever go on strike during an election?
