ALBANY – As New York City Council workers take strides toward unionization, an assemblyman is hoping to extend those protections to state legislative staffers.

Assemblyman Dan Quart, D-Manhattan, introduced a bill Tuesday that would permit legislative staff to form a collective bargaining unit. The legislation was prompted in part, he said, by a day-long public hearing on sexual harassment last year, when former employees who had been harassed by lawmakers shed light on a culture of intimidation and retaliation in the Legislature.

Allowing workers to unionize would give employees more power to advocate for themselves and against discriminatory or harassing behavior, Quart said.

"To state the obvious, up to this point, stripping legislative workers of their civil liberties has been to their detriment," he said in an email. "Last year’s public hearings on sexual harassment underscored the need for legislative staff to be able to advocate for themselves. To this day, unions are the clearest path to guaranteeing fair wages, protecting against harassment and poor working conditions, and improving the lives of working people."

Last February's hearing was the first the Legislature had hosted on the topic in nearly 30 years. It came to fruition after months of advocacy efforts from the Sexual Harassment Working Group, a collective of seven women and one man who say their allegations of sexual harassment while working for the Legislature were mishandled.

Quart, in both an emailed statement and in the bill memo, noted that many legislators fight for unions within their districts – even while their own staffers cannot organize. His staff is still looking for a Senate sponsor to carry the legislation.