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Senator Bernie Sanders’ Presidential Campaign To Have Unionized Campaign Workers


Last Friday, it was announced that Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign for President will be the first major presidential campaign to have a unionized workforce.  Senator Sanders, running for the Democratic nomination again after a failed bid in 2016, has long championed labor unions and hourly workers.  However, last Friday’s announcement was noteworthy as the campaign had stayed quiet during the organizing efforts.  It was not until a majority of the bargaining unit signed cards designating United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 to represent them did the Sanders campaign voluntarily recognize the union.  Realistically, the campaign was smart to stay quiet, or risk being confronted with an unfair labor charge for improperly conducting itself during a unionization effort.

So what does this actually mean for Sanders’ campaign workers?  For starters, negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement will begin shortly with the union set to represent all Sanders’ campaign workers below the rank of deputy director.  (Potentially, 1,000 Sanders’campaign workers could be represented.)  In this case, the union is seeking to implement pay parity and transparency within the campaign, eliminate gender bias and harassment, and implement equal treatment for all campaign workers.

It will be interesting to see which, if any, other Democratic campaigns for President follow suit.  If I had to guess, I would suspect that former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro’s campaign might be next as he has previously voiced support for his campaign staff, if they were to unionize.  Regardless of which candidate does/does not follow the Sanders’ campaign unionization, labor unions and their supporters are hailing last Friday’s announcement as a major victory for organized labor.


For additional information:  https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/bernie-sanders-campaign-union

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