President Joe Biden is supportive of Democratic congressional staffers’ recent efforts to form a union, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
During a White House press conference, Psaki explained the president “supports the right of any individual to seek to join a union, to collective bargain, and of course, Capitol Hill staffers are certainly individuals who are pursuing that.” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as 83 other Democratic members of the House, have also endorsed the process.
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Any union would likely consist of only Democratic staffers. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke out against the process Monday, explaining that he does not “think it would be productive for the government.”
Psaki later dodged a question about meetings between the staffers and the White House, telling reporters they should reach out to Pelosi.
Although congressional staffers have never before unionized, staffers on the 2020 presidential campaign for Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400. Staffers later complained they were underpaid and that they were retaliated against for labor activities. (RELATED: Bernie Sanders’ Presidential Campaign Will Be The First To Unionize)
The staffers have pointed to reports of sexual misconduct directed at lower level staff, as well as low pay and long hours. Posts on the Instagram page “Dear White Staffers” allege that staffers are paid unfairly, and that members repeatedly request staffers to run personal errands.
Biden also supported a failed unionization effort at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama, appearing to call out the company for anti-union activities. He received endorsements from several major unions during the 2020 election cycle, including Laborers International Union of North America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Union of Operating Engineers, and the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters.