Biden campaign recognizing unionizing efforts by headquarters staff

By Arlette Saenz, CNN

Washington (CNN) — The Biden campaign is recognizing efforts by staff at its Wilmington, Delaware, headquarters to unionize, kickstarting a bargaining process that could address wages, working hours and working conditions for some of the individuals pushing to reelect President Joe Biden.

The unionization effort is affiliated with the Campaign Workers Guild, a non-partisan labor union founded in 2017 to represent workers on campaigns and political committees, and negotiations between the union and campaign are expected to begin in the near future.

“We are thrilled to announce that the Biden Union-Campaign Workers Guild has been recognized by campaign leadership,” the Biden Union-Campaign Workers Guild said in a statement. “All workers deserve a union, and we look forward to working with management to build an equitable contract that is in line with the values this campaign fights for and raises the bar for campaign and political workers across the country.”

Democratic campaigns and committees have embraced moves by their staff to unionize in recent years as they look to live up to the pro-labor platforms they pitch to voters. It comes as the president has sought to strengthen his union bona fides as he prepares to face off against former President Donald Trump, who is also making a play for union voters heading into November.

More than 175 people currently work at Biden campaign headquarters and there are plans to expand the staff in Delaware in the coming months, a source familiar with the matter said. Part of the bargaining process will include determining which headquarters staff would be eligible to join the union, sources familiar with the matter said.

Negotiations are expected to touch on wages, working hours and working conditions for staffers at the campaign’s main office in Delaware. Sources tied to the union push declined to outline what initial terms will be pursued in talks.

“Joe Biden has spent his entire career supporting the labor movement and standing with workers. As the most pro-union president in American history, the president is proud that his staff has decided to form a union, as they did four years ago,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez told CNN in a statement. “We look forward to working collaboratively with CWG on an agreement that we will all be proud of.”

Field organizers on Biden’s previous campaign unionized in May 2020. They worked with Teamsters Local 238 to secure a $15 minimum wage, overtime pay if working more than 40 hours in a week and a six-day work week.

In this campaign cycle, field organizers are expected to be hired by the coordinated campaign. Organizing staff working in battleground states are covered by collective bargaining agreements which are negotiated by state parties, a Democratic National Committee spokesperson said.

The DNC saw its staff unionize in 2022. Non-managerial and non-temporary full-time and regular part time employees at the committee’s headquarters are eligible to join the union, which is represented by SEIU Local 500 and is now in its second contract.

Biden has long touted himself as the most pro-union president in history and is once again making a pitch for working class voters in his reelection bid. He most recently secured the endorsement of the United Auto Workers, a key force in blue wall states like Michigan and Wisconsin. The UAW’s President Shawn Fain will attend the president’s State of the Union on Thursday as a guest of first lady Dr. Jill Biden.

But while the president has won the backing of union leadership, it’s unclear whether that will translate into support from rank-and-file members, whom Trump is also trying to woo in this campaign.

On Tuesday, the president is slated to attend a roundtable with rank-and-file members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters after Trump met with the group earlier this year. The Teamsters backed Biden in 2020 but are still weighing an endorsement in the 2024 race.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.