Staffers to hold first union vote in Capitol Hill office

Staffers in Rep. Andy Levin’s (D-Mich.) office will hold Capitol Hill’s first ever union vote on Thursday and Friday.

“Today marks the first union election in the history of the U.S. Congress,” the Congressional Workers Union said on Twitter. “This is a historic moment for both the labor movement and democracy.”

The vote comes just over four months after the House voted in May to allow congressional workers to unionize. Levin introduced the resolution that eventually passed entirely along party lines.

“This is only the beginning as we move towards elections in several other offices,” the union added on Twitter. “We want to recognize the brave congressional staffers who have spoken out and demanded better working conditions across Capitol Hill and have brought us to this incredible point in history!”

Levin’s office was one of eight congressional offices that voted in July to move forward with a union election, along with the offices of Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.).

However, Levin will only remain in office for about three more months, after he lost his primary to the more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in August.

Stevens and Levin were both elected in the 2018 midterm elections, but the redistricting process forced them into a member-on-member match-up.