The Sanders campaign announced Friday that its staff voted to unionize becoming the first presidential campaign to do so.
In its announcement, the campaign said its bargaining unit employees will be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400. The union currently represents workers in “the retail food, health care, retail department store, food processing, service and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee,” according to its website. Bernie 2020 is the first campaign it will represent.
Rather than have the National Labor Relations Board conduct a vote, the campaign recognized that over the past weeks enough of its employees had signed union cards indicating support for UFCW 400 representation, which negated the need for an election, the Sanders camp said.
“Bernie Sanders is the most pro-union candidate in the field, he’ll be the most pro-union president in the White House and we’re honored that his campaign will be the first to have a unionized workforce,” Faiz Shakir, Sanders manager, said in a statement.
The move came after complaints by some of Sanders’ former presidential campaign staff about “sexual violence and harassment on the 2016 campaign” became public late last year. The Vermont senator met with some two dozen of his former campaign staffers in January as a way to address the complaints.
While Sanders is the first high-profile candidate to see his staff unionize, the Campaign Workers Guild has been steadily organizing campaigns on the left since it was launched this time last year. In fact, CWG states that workers from 24 campaigns, three state party coordinated campaigns, and two groups have ratified its collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).
In a statement released Friday, CWG said that Bernie 2020 management brushed offer their requests for a neutrality agreement "for nearly two months."
"While we wish our union had been given an opportunity to represent these workers, we fully support Bernie 2020 workers and are excited that campaign workers have succeeded in changing the status quo," CWG said in a statement. "On even the largest campaigns, campaign workers at all workplaces will have unions and will band together for their collective empowerment. Every day, we will continue to fight for the working conditions we deserve."
UFCW 400 said management stayed neutral during the process, which began on Feb. 26 with the gathering of signatures. “By March 15th, a majority of the campaign’s 44 bargaining unit-eligible employees had signed union cards — counted and certified by Rabbi Elizabeth Richman, Deputy Director and Rabbi in Residence at Jews United for Justice, as designated by the agreement — triggering recognition and a countdown to the launch of negotiations. Over the course of the campaign, the bargaining unit could potentially grow to more than 1,000 members,” UFCW 400 stated.
In a tweet, Sanders said he was proud his presidential was the first to unionize.
“I’m proud that our campaign is the first presidential campaign to unionize. We cannot just support unions with words, we must back it up with actions. On this campaign and when we are in the White House, we are going make it easier for people to join unions, not harder,” he wrote.