The union contract includes "a pay equity review process for employees that protects their right to request a review without discrimination, discipline, or being discharged by management." | Scott Olson/Getty Images EMPLOYMENT & IMMIGRATION Sanders campaign ratifies union contract with workers

Campaign workers for Sen. Bernie Sanders ratified a union contract today, in an apparent first for a presidential campaign.

“We are proud of our workers and proud to uphold Bernie's commitment to collective bargaining rights and a strong labor movement,” Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, said in a written statement. “Together, we have achieved some of the strongest standards for campaign workers in history."


Sanders‘ campaign workers voted to organize in March after Sanders sped up the process by declaring himself neutral on the matter. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, which represents the workers, said the contract will “dramatically improve their quality of life without hindering the Bernie 2020 campaign’s ability to compete for votes and delegates.“

According to UFCW, the campaign staff's paid time off will under the contract double from 10 to 20 days off per year, and workers will receive breaks throughout the day and "mandatory time off between particularly long shifts." In addition, "in keeping with Senator Sanders’ emphasis on fighting income inequality, the contract puts a cap on management pay proportional to union employees’ salaries."

Hourly employees will receive overtime pay, the union said.

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Unionizing political campaigns is a new endeavor, and until now has been limited to a few congressional, state, and local campaign staffs. Sanders‘ union contract will test whether presidential campaigns — which operate on long hours, shoestring budgets and sometimes grueling conditions — can remain competitive under a union structure.

The first unionized political campaign in the U.S. is believed to be that of Randy Bryce, an iron worker who last year ran unsuccessfully for the Wisconsin congressional seat vacated by House Speaker Paul Ryan.

The Campaign Workers Guild, a new union dedicated solely to organizing campaign workers, subsequently secured union contracts more than two dozen political campaigns, including actress Cynthia Nixon's unsuccessful primary challenge last year to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

But the effort has been fraught, opening Democratic candidates up to accusations of hypocrisy by union locals that represent their staff. In Ohio last year, workers for the state Democratic party revolted when management hired a Republican attorney to assist with negotiations.

“Campaign worker jobs and union organizer jobs are people committed to the cause — who are fighting for something bigger than themselves,” Steve Rosenthal, former political director for the AFL-CIO, told POLITICO in 2018. “But at the same time, all workers are entitled to decent pay, benefits and rights on the job. I’ve struggled with it for my entire adult life. It’s a thorny issue.“