Bill Clark/AP Photo
Philip Bennett, president of the Congressional Workers Union, speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on July 19, 2022.
Whenever House Republicans get around to choosing a Speaker, they will vote on a rules package for the next Congress. The rules package includes some culture-war fodder, like ending security screening for the House floor, clarifying that members don’t have to use gender-nonspecific language in speeches, and allowing appropriations to target the salaries of specific executive-branch officials. It includes the restoration of “cutgo,” where any new spending has to be offset by spending cuts only, not new taxes; in fact, tax increases will require a three-fifths vote. It repeals the Gephardt rule, which deemed the debt limit increased upon the passage of a budget resolution. It requires the Congressional Budget Office to assess all legislation for its impact on inflation (I guess assessing for improving quality of life isn’t necessary).
But the most unique provision in the House rules package would eliminate House staff labor unions, several of which have been voted into being. But there’s some question as to whether a rules vote can legally accomplish that.
It’s a predictable but amusing kickoff of this Congress for a Republican Party that has mused about being a “worker’s party.” The first chance they get, they are attempting to nullify the rights of the employees in their own workplace.
To recap, the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA) applied many of the rules of employment that apply to the private sector to the workplace of Congress. That created a framework for House and Senate staffers to organize their offices. But regulations had never been passed to enable the process.
Last May, the House passed a resolution implementing those regulations, in a 217-202 party-line vote. The Senate has never passed such a resolution. But the House vote granted the right to organize to over 9,000 House staffers.
Since that House action in May, the offices of Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), and most recently Cori Bush (D-MO, whose staff began voting last week and are expected to unionize) have voted to organize. Former Rep. Andy Levin’s office also unionized—he was the author of the resolution and saw organizing in his own office as a template—but since Levin no longer sits in Congress after having lost his primary, that will go away. Five other offices have filed to hold elections with the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR), representing staff for Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Sean Casten (D-IL), and Chuy García (D-IL). García is currently running for mayor of Chicago, the election for which will be held on February 28.
UPDATE: According to the Congressional Workers Union, the Lieu and García offices have voted to unionize, and four other offices—for Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), and Mark Takano (D-CA)—have filed a petition for a union election.
Pay rates are traditionally set by Congress—the outgoing Democratic House set a minimum staff pay threshold of $45,000/year—but the OCWR regulation does not prohibit bargaining over pay, and the first negotiated contract, with Levin's office, set an average salary for junior staff of $76,000/year. Plus, a number of other working conditions other than pay could be addressed. That includes benefits like vacation and sick leave, funding levels for offices, and rules for dealing with situations like workplace harassment.
The first chance they get, Republicans are attempting to nullify the rights of the employees in their own workplace.
If all nine active offices unionize, that will comprise about 100 workers. But under the House GOP resolution, all of those unionized workplaces and pending elections would be wiped away. The question is whether or not that can be done through a rules package.
The CAA is statute; it holds that Congress cannot exempt itself from federal labor law. Now that the regulations governing the bargaining process are written and passed under House rules, critics of the GOP’s action say that Congress would have to pass a law repealing parts of the CAA and restoring the exemptions.
House members did not write those regulations; they only approved them. The OCWR promulgated the regulations, and only they, according to this argument, could alter them. The House cannot unauthorize the regulations or unwind the collective-bargaining agreements that have already been confirmed.
House Republicans obviously have a different opinion. But it’s unclear how far they’d go to enforce that. It is incredibly unlikely that any Republican office will have staff attempt to unionize, at least in the near term. If a Democratic office believes they remain unionized even after the rules vote, would Republicans go to court to disband it? And who would want to hear that case? This is more of a question of House procedure than labor law, making it destined for federal courts rather than the National Labor Relations Board. And it may be seen as a political question where judges don’t want to intervene.
For their part, the Congressional Workers Union, the umbrella group for organizing staff, has said that they are not viewing the imminent rules package vote as the end of the line. “We organized and unionized offices in the 117th Congress, and we’re going not to stop in the 118th Congress. When we fight, we win, and we’re ready to take on any anti-worker battles that may come our way,” CWU wrote in a tweet.
Interestingly, two incoming House Democrats, Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) and Maxwell Frost (D-FL), signaled their endorsement in replies. Either of those offices could provide a test case if staffers choose to organize with their boss’s support.
UPDATE: In a statement to the Prospect, Congressional Workers Union member Taylor Doggett said the union was currently seeking advice from legal and legislative experts on whether the rules package could nullify staff unions. “As of now, we have no plans to stop our organizing drive and this has in fact invigorated workers to want to utilize their collective power even more and cement their seat at the table,” Doggett said.
