The move launches an uphill battle for labor organizing in the narrowly divided upper chamber.
The effort, led by Sen. Sherrod Brown , comes more than a year after the House paved the way to allow staffers to unionize if they choose. While Democrats control the Senate, they would need to find nearly a dozen Republican senators in favor to overcome the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster. That is a long shot.
Currently the only senator whose staffers have unionized is Sen. Ed Markey , but the Senate hasn’t passed its own resolution to authorize unionizing, so organizers have been unprotected by federal labor laws. “Every worker should have a right to organize and have a voice in their workplace – and that is why I have spent my career fighting for the dignity of work,” Brown said in a statement to POLITICO. “Today, I honor my staff, both past and future, for their dedication to serving the state of Ohio. With this resolution, we can finally secure the fundamental legal right of U.S. Senate staff to join together as union members to advocate for themselves and have a voice on the job.
“We commend Senator Sherrod Brown for his championing of the congressional unionization resolution in the Senate and hope all senators — regardless of party — endorse it to allow their staff the opportunity to advocate for themselves,” said Taylor J. Swift, senior policy advisor at Demand Progress. “Providing Senate congressional staff with the opportunity to seek collective bargaining rights is a major step toward building a stronger workplace within the chamber, and therefore, within Congress.
Other cosigners of the legislation include Sens. Markey, Amy Klobuchar , Bernie Sanders , Elizabeth Warren , Jeff Merkley , Peter Welch , Tina Smith , Cory Booker , Kirsten Gillibrand , Martin Heinrich , Alex Padilla , Sheldon Whitehouse , Debbie Stabenow , John Fetterman , Gary Peters , Richard Blumenthal , Mazie Hirono , Tammy Baldwin , and Bob Casey .
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