17 votes

Bernie Sanders' staff unionizes in US presidential campaign first

9 comments

  1. alyaza
    Link
    unionization is still fairly novel for political campaigns. as i recall a few midterm campaigns had their staff unionize last year, but obviously the majority did not, and this extends to most...

    unionization is still fairly novel for political campaigns. as i recall a few midterm campaigns had their staff unionize last year, but obviously the majority did not, and this extends to most political campaigns up to and including presidential ones. it'll be interesting to see if this becomes a trend with other 2020 nominees, since a lot of the early race so far has been candidates putting a new idea on the table and then other candidates rushing to jack that idea. it'll also be interesting to see if this sets a broader precedent of campaigns unionizing their staff, or if sanders is going to end up standing alone and non-unionized campaigns will remain the norm.

    5 votes
  2. [7]
    NoblePath
    Link
    I predict this will end poorly. It will result in a highly visible and sensationalized but decontextualized labor issue that will sink both sanders and worker organization.

    I predict this will end poorly. It will result in a highly visible and sensationalized but decontextualized labor issue that will sink both sanders and worker organization.

    2 votes
    1. [3]
      MimicSquid
      Link Parent
      Can you explain a bit more about how that will happen? I'm not seeing how your statement leads from what is described in the article.

      Can you explain a bit more about how that will happen? I'm not seeing how your statement leads from what is described in the article.

      7 votes
      1. [2]
        NoblePath
        Link Parent
        I know the kind of people who work on campaigns, the kind of people who are politicians, and the kind of people who work for workers organization. I know because i am all three. Bernie is the best...

        I know the kind of people who work on campaigns, the kind of people who are politicians, and the kind of people who work for workers organization. I know because i am all three.

        Bernie is the best form of politician, and attracts good people.

        That said, there are two forces working against success here. First is that politics is necessarily ego driven, and even with the best of intentions, and among the best people, egos can miss the forest for the trees, with painful results.

        Second, a political campaign is a kind of organization that needs to acquire and shed members quickly, and work to enact a singular vision quickly and completely.

        I'm not saying that campaign workers should not organize. I'm just saying that america does not have good collectivism skills, and that there will probably be some kind of union-campaign interaction that will be reported sensationally and without proper context, and it will harm both the cause of bernie (whom i supoort, btw) and workers
        organization (which I also support).

        2 votes
        1. MimicSquid
          Link Parent
          Ok, thank you for your explanation. That makes sense.

          Ok, thank you for your explanation. That makes sense.

          1 vote
    2. NaraVara
      Link Parent
      This outcome you’re foreseeing does not seem to have borne out with any of the two-dozen or so unionized campaigns that we’ve seen so far: Granted, a presidential campaign needs to spin up rapidly...

      This outcome you’re foreseeing does not seem to have borne out with any of the two-dozen or so unionized campaigns that we’ve seen so far:

      Since the start of 2018, a new union called the Campaign Workers Guild has secured collective bargaining agreements with two dozen campaigns, including last year’s successful U.S. House bids by New York’s Max Rose and New Mexico’s Deb Haaland, and the re-election of Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.

      Granted, a presidential campaign needs to spin up rapidly and go nationwide, so maybe there is something about that which might make it untenable where local and statewide races were just fine. But I don’t really see what insurmountable additional challenges it creates.

      I don’t think we’re gojng to build a movement for organized labor by organizing campaign staff, but this is symbolically important. If you’re going to be the party of the working class, you need to walk the walk by making sure the people working for you are emopowered to have their interests represented.

      3 votes
    3. [2]
      SourceContribute
      Link Parent
      Whether or not a workplace is unionized bears only a loose correlation to the success of the organization, at least in the short-term. If unionized staff feel more empowered and do better and...

      Whether or not a workplace is unionized bears only a loose correlation to the success of the organization, at least in the short-term. If unionized staff feel more empowered and do better and unionization doesn't distract from the campaign itself, then it's awesome and should help the campaign to do better.

      2 votes
      1. alyaza
        Link Parent
        it's also just a decent thing to do, and it's on brand for Sanders to support anyways

        If unionized staff feel more empowered and do better and unionization doesn't distract from the campaign itself, then it's awesome and should help the campaign to do better.

        it's also just a decent thing to do, and it's on brand for Sanders to support anyways

        2 votes
  3. NoblePath
    Link
    My incidental opionion is that if we wer doing government right (i.e. more bernies) we wouldn't need unions.

    My incidental opionion is that if we wer doing government right (i.e. more bernies) we wouldn't need unions.