Elizabeth Warren’s Campaign Announces Tentative Deal to Unionize

By David Boddiger | September 28, 2019 | 7:58pm

Elections

A few months after Sen.
Elizabeth Warren’s campaign staff announced
it would unionize, the campaign appears to have finally reached
a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union, The Hill reported on Saturday.

Union negotiators will recommend
the contract be ratified next week.

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According to The New Hampshire Labor News, the
agreement sets a base compensation for campaign organizers of $4,175 a month,
and includes a base travel stipend and a monthly cellphone stipend. A workweek
would be capped at 60 hours for organizers, with at least one day off per week.
Additionally, organizers would receive 15 paid vacation days and paid holidays.
The Warren campaign will continue to pay for 100% of healthcare coverage.

“I’m proud that my
campaign has reached an equitable agreement with IBEW 2320 and I’m grateful to
the bargaining teams for getting us there,” Warren said, according to NH Labor News. “Every worker who wants
to join a union, bargain collectively, and make their voice heard should have a
chance to do so. IBEW has long fought for the dignity of working people, and
we’re proud to be part of that tradition.”

Warren’s staff is
the fourth among Democratic presidential campaigns to unionize. Sen. Bernie
Sanders’ campaign was
the first, followed by the campaigns of former Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Julián Castro and Rep. Eric Swalwell. However, Swalwell dropped out of
the presidential race in early July, and Castro’s campaign has not
yet ratified an agreement, according to ABC News.

As The Wall Street Journal previously
explained, campaign staffs develop relationships with local unions in New
Hampshire because it’s the first
state to hold a presidential primary.

Steve Soule, IBEW
Local 2320’s business manager, called the tentative contract “revolutionary.”

“This revolutionary
contract brings together shared values and most importantly fair treatment for
campaign workers,” Soule said. “Throughout the negotiation, we focused on
wages, benefits and working conditions which are the hallmark for every working
person in the United States today. We were pleased to find a partner at the
table that recognized those key issues.”

Warren’s campaign
has over 200 staff member across the country, according to the Journal.

Last week, the
Sanders campaign’s national press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, had criticized
the Warren campaign for taking too long to negotiate, saying, “There is only
one campaign that has put its money where its mouth is…”

Now there are about to be at least two. (Ahem, Joe Biden.)