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House of Representatives Gives Greenlight For Unionization By Capitol Hill Staffers


Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution by a vote of 217 - 202 that will allow Capitol Hill staffers (in the House, but not the Senate) to unionize without fear of retaliation.

The House had previously allowed staffers to unionize but there was no framework in place to protect them from retaliation if they did in fact move to unionize.  With last week’s resolution, staffers will now be able to unionize and hold a vote if at least 30% of workers in a bargaining unit (each Congressional office) support a vote.  In effect, it is quite likely (if not a certainty) that some staffers will vote to unionize while peers in neighboring Congressional offices do not vote to unionize.  This will lead to somewhat of a haphazard unionization on Capitol Hill.

If staffers successfully vote to unionize, they will be able to have a union bargain on a contract on their behalf.  As has been reported, alleged poor working conditions among some Congressional staffers had recently spurred renewed efforts on Capitol Hill to provide staffers with this ability to unionize without retaliation.

As this resolution does not require approval by President Biden or even approval by the Senate, it should go into effect shortly.  Will the Senate take up a similar measure?  While it is possible, I think it is less likely due in part to less of an appetite among Senators to wade into the matter.


For additional information:  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/us/politics/house-staff-union.html

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