[B]ernie 2020 is now the first presidential campaign in U.S. history with a union contract.
The campaign reached an agreement with management and ratified the contract two months after a majority of the bargaining unit employees designated the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 to represent them as their bargaining representative.
“We are proud of our workers and proud to uphold Bernie’s commitment to collective bargaining rights and a strong labor movement,” campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement. “Together, we have achieved some of the strongest standards for campaign workers in history and set the bar higher for the next generation of campaigners.”
The new contract provides pay transparency and a pay equity review process for employees “that protects their right to request a review without discrimination, discipline, or being discharged by management.”
It also ensures a clearly defined wage scale, opportunity to earn performance raises, coverage for mental health care services, safe and adequate standards for housing and field offices, an “expedient, pro-worker” grievance and arbitration process, an anti-discrimination policy that includes “comprehensive” protections for immigrant and transgender workers and labor committees of union members to address ongoing issues.
Local 400 spokesman Jonathan Williams said the contract covers 100 employees, though the workforce is estimated to grow to as many as 1,000 at its peak.
“Political campaigns are cause-driven, and because there is always more work that can be done, staffers are typically worked to the bone,” Local 400 president Mark Federici said in a statement. “But it doesn’t have to be this way. Even political work must be subject to minimum standards.”
Another candidate, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif, announced that his campaign was officially recognizing a staff union last month, but Williams said he is not aware of any union contract being ratified by the workers of that campaign.
Sanders’ campaign staff voted in favor of the unionization last week. Williams declined to give the exact numbers on the vote, other than to say that the “vast majority” voted in favor.
“When Bernie Sanders is in the White House, he will make it easier not harder to join a union and we look forward to running a campaign powered by union workers,” Shakir said.
