Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign has agreed to let its staff unionize, according to a New Hampshire branch of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The union will represent 208 staffers at campaign offices across the country. Warren’s would be the second Democratic presidential campaign to allow its staff to collectively bargain, following that of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., whose staff was organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers in March.
“We began the process about two months ago to engage with them and to encourage them to become members,” Steve Soule, business manager for IBEW Local 2320, based in Manchester, N.H., told the Washington Examiner. “Once we had a simple majority [signed up], we approached the Warren campaign and received recognition.”
Soule said the Warren campaign cooperated with their effort, providing the union with documentation on its nonmanagement workers, a requirement of employers under the National Labor Relations Act. Contract negotiations have not yet begun, Soule said, as the union is still polling the campaign members to determine their interests and concerns.
Although it is representing the campaign staff, the union is not actually endorsing the campaign. “It is important to make a clear distinction that my role is to be an advocate and representative for the workers who work for the Elizabeth Warren campaign. I in no way represent the campaign itself,” Soule said.
The Warren campaign did not immediately confirm that IBEW Local 2320 would represent its staff. A campaign spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
The 2020 presidential campaign is history-making for having unionized presidential campaign staff. “We cannot just support unions with words, we must back it up with actions,” Sanders tweeted in March, when his staff’s union was recognized.
It is unclear what impact unionized staff will have on the candidates’ bids for office. Presidential campaigns are notoriously demanding, high-pressure affairs that are hard on their staff. Employees are expected to work long, irregular hours, have their duties changed and work sites moved at short notice, and can be laid off with little warning.
Soule said the fact that Local 2320 was based in New Hampshire wasn’t an issue for representing the staff of a Massachusetts senator’s White House bid. “We like to think of ourselves as New Englanders. We celebrate one football team. We celebrate one baseball team. And we celebrate one hockey team,” he said.
