The office for Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is slated to become the first congressional group in the Senate to unionize.
On social media Wednesday, the Congressional Workers Union tweeted: "BREAKING: Today we are unionizing the United States Senate. 100% of @SenMarkey staffers have come forward and requested voluntary recognition. Once recognized, this Office will be the first ever unionized United States Senate office!"
Later in the day, Markey publicly supported his office's mission to unionize.
"I applaud these workers who are exercising their right to organize, a fundamental exercise in democracy," Markey tweeted. "I'm proud of their commitment not to agonize, but to organize. I recognize their effort to unionize and look forward to engaging with them."
Last May, the House — then controlled by the Democrats — passed a resolution allowing its staffers to unionize.
However, the Senate never passed a similar measure. As such, Senate staffers are not subject to federal labor laws that protect workers from reprisal or retaliation for organizing a union.
Roll Call, however, reports that workers in Markey's office would be protected by federal labor laws, since the Massachusetts Democrat has formally acknowledged the union.
Conversely, Markey's staffers would not be able to seek redress with the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights or the National Labor Relations Board, according to Roll Call.
Last year, in a Congressional Progressive Staff Association study cited by the CWU, among the 516 congressional staffers surveyed, 47% said they were struggling to pay bills, 68% were not satisfied with their compensation, and 85% believed Congress to be a toxic work environment.
One organization has criticized the union effort, characterizing the CWU's priorities as misguided.
"The 'Congressional Worker's Union' is more concerned with DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] than addressing wage issues and even cases of staffer reliance on food stamps," The Bull Moose Project tweeted.
"Yet another example of a public sector union ignoring actual issues to insert a fake, ignorant ideology in order to extort taxpayers."
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