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{"id":27406,"date":"2026-10-05T08:49:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/it-took-four-years-but-a-capitol-hill-office-finally-has-a-union-contract\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T08:49:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:49:47","slug":"it-took-four-years-but-a-capitol-hill-office-finally-has-a-union-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/it-took-four-years-but-a-capitol-hill-office-finally-has-a-union-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"It took four years, but a Capitol Hill office finally has a union contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Four years ago, California Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/218327\" data-person-id=\"218327\">Ro Khanna<\/a>\u2019s staff voted to unionize \u2014 one of a handful of Democratic offices that sought to ride a wave of organizing momentum during then-President Joe Biden\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n<p>Much has changed since, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/03\/exclusions-from-federal-labor-management-relations-programs\/\" target=\"_blank\">put it mildly<\/a>, but Khanna aides persevered and recently won approval of their first collectively bargained contract \u2014 the first labor agreement of its kind inside Congress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was four years in the making,\u201d Nicole Waring, a deputy director of constituent services for Khanna and the union steward, said in an interview. \u201cWe finally, finally reached the point where we were able to finalize our contract and ratify it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The agonizing process of turning pro-union enthusiasm into an actual binding agreement is both a breakthrough for the fitful labor movement on Capitol Hill while also underscoring how that movement has sputtered in the years since Biden left office, Donald Trump took back the White House and unionization moved off the front burner for Democratic staffers.<\/p>\n<p>Since an <a href=\"http:\/\/politico.com\/minutes\/congress\/09-26-2022\/\" target=\"_blank\">initial wave of offices<\/a> voted to unionize in 2022, that momentum has largely petered out. Less than a dozen offices are now unionized as staffers\u2019 efforts are complicated by heavy workloads, adversarial bosses and Congress\u2019 recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legistorm.com\/pro_news\/4398\/staff-turnover-ties-all-time-high-in-2025.html\" target=\"_blank\">record high turnover rates<\/a> that have led some aides to the conclusion that unionizing is more trouble than it\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n<p>Against that backdrop, that the eight-person union in Khanna\u2019s office was able to win a contract constitutes a bright spot for organizers.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement establishes a higher salary floor and a mechanism to renegotiate salaries if the office\u2019s budget allowance increases, according to Waring and portions of the text reviewed by Blue Light News.<\/p>\n<p>The document also codifies a procedure to resolve internal grievances. When Khanna almost certainly wins reelection, the agreement \u2014 which was officially ratified in August \u2014 will continue through next term.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m proud of our office for signing the first long-term contract in the history of the U.S. Congress. I hope this can serve as a model for other offices in Congress,\u201d Khanna said in a statement thanking his staff. \u201cWe need to be a model for the collective bargaining in our offices that we want to see across our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Waring said Khanna and his senior aides were supportive and trusting during contract negotiation but noted that, even under those positive circumstances, the effort was time- and labor-intensive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s a lot of back and forth. It takes time to review each passback of the contract, redline everything,\u201d Waring said. \u201cThe biggest thing was we wanted to make sure that this contract would be governable, and rather than just make things convenient and take shortcuts, make sure that it was going to be something that we knew would stand the test of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Khanna\u2019s chief of staff, Marie Baldassarre, said in an interview the process for her office took years because \u201cwe realized like this is going to actually impact people&#8217;s lives, and it&#8217;s a binding contract, and so we have to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s just never been done before, and none of us were experts,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Staffers on Capitol Hill often face a grueling office cultures that can hamstring efforts to advance worker protections. Staffers for pro-labor Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/66866\" data-person-id=\"66866\">Dina Titus<\/a> (D-Nev.), for example, voted to unionize in 2023 but then faced internal retaliation, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/thenevadaindependent.com\/article\/why-longtime-labor-ally-dina-titus-quietly-helped-kill-efforts-to-unionize-her-office\" target=\"_blank\">Nevada Independent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Staffers for lawmakers across the ideological spectrum can be subjected to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/addybaird\/pramila-jayapal-staff-treatment\" target=\"_blank\">long hours<\/a>, eyebrow-raising <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/23\/us\/politics\/mary-peltola-alaska-senate-race.html\" target=\"_blank\">member requests<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/the-incredible-37-page-guide-for-staffing-sen-kyrsten-sinema\/\" target=\"_blank\">unrelenting demands<\/a> that can spur staffer interest in pursuing labor protections \u2014 but also fears about potentially hindering their careers.<\/p>\n<p>A person involved in the Congressional Workers Union \u2014 an umbrella group that provides support to individual office bargaining units \u2014 called the Khanna office contract \u201chistoric\u201d and acknowledged it was \u201cprobably the biggest win recently\u201d for the broader organizing effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s small wins all the time,\u201d added the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the group.<\/p>\n<p>Staffers for former Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) ratified a contract in the final days of his term in December 2022. While that contract was technically the first for a member office, it was largely symbolic given Levin\u2019s imminent departure. Staff for Reps. <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/195556\" data-person-id=\"195556\">Mark Pocan<\/a> (D-Wis.) and <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/194048\" data-person-id=\"194048\">Val Hoyle<\/a> (D-Ore.) secured \u201cmemorandums of understanding\u201d with their members in 2024, but not formal contracts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHats off to them for getting it done,\u201d Levin said in an interview. \u201cIn terms of what comes next, much will depend on the outcome of the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Levin, a labor attorney, said that Republican majorities and White House have had a chilling effect on Capitol Hill unions and predicted that if Democrats take back the House majority next year, a flurry of labor activity will ensue. He added that several Democrats with close ties to organized labor are poised to enter the House, naming fellow Michigan Democrat and former SEIU organizer Donavan McKinney.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this political climate, the idea of getting contracts negotiated on Blue Light News, where it&#8217;s hardly ever been done, I think that seems very challenging to me,\u201d Levin said. \u201cI do think it&#8217;s great that another office has gotten the first contract, and I think the momentum will continue to grow from here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four years ago, California Rep. Ro Khanna\u2019s staff voted to unionize \u2014 one of a handful of Democratic offices that sought to ride a wave of organizing momentum during then-President Joe Biden\u2019s administration. Much has changed since, to put it mildly, but Khanna aides persevered and recently won approval of their first collectively bargained contract [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}