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Unionization in Congress
- Issuance of Final Regulations Pursuant to the CAA for House staff (2022-05-16)
- OCWR Note on next steps to implement unionization in the House of Representatives. (2022-05)
- Demand Progress Statement upon passage of the House resolution permitting staff to unionize (2022-05-10)
- Congressional Workers Union Statement upon passage of the House resolution permitting staff to unionize (2022-05-10)
- Rep. Levin Statement upon passage of the House resolution permitting staff to unionize (2022-05-10)
- Rep. Lofgren Statement upon passage of the House resolution permitting staff to unionize (2022-05-10)
- Spreadsheet of Members who support unionization (continuously updated)
- Letter Signed by 78 Organizations and 24 Individuals Urges House Leadership to Adopt the Resolution Allowing House Staff to Unionize (2022-03-02)
- Press release on introduction of unionization resolution (2022-02-09)
- Letter to the OCWR from House Admin requesting an expeditious review of the regulations OCWR proposed in 1996 related to collective bargaining (2022-02-08)
- Letter to House Admin from OCWR in which "the Board does not see the need for any technical changes and unanimously requests that Congress approve the 1996 section 220(e) regulations previously adopted by the Board so that the Board can formally issue them." (2022-02-22)
- The Congressional Workers Union
- Demand Progress Written Testimony in Support of Unionization, submitted for the Committee on House Administration Hearing (2022-03-02)
- Letter from 78 organizations and 24 notables in support of unionization delivered to the House of Representatives on March 2, 2022 (2022-03-02)
- Blogpost: What We Know About How House Unionization Might Work (2022-03-08)
- H.Res 1096, to provide for unionization of House staff, adopted by the House of Representatives on 5/10/2022 as part of a deeming resolution package in H.Res 1097. (2022-05-10)
- H.Res 915 (117th), introduced by Rep. Levin and 130+ co-sponsors, to allow staff in the House of Representatives to unionize (2022-02-09)
- Hearing: Oversight of Section 220 of the Congressional Accountability Act: Implementing the Rights of Congressional Staff to Collectively Bargain, Committee on House Administration (March 2, 2022) -- Committee website: Video of proceedings -- Document repository: Written Testimony of John D. Uelmen, Written Testimony of Mark Strand, Submitted Testimony of Rep. Levin, Submitted Testimony by Daniel Schuman, Demand Progress, Letter from 78 organizations endorsing unionization
- Congressional Accountability Act -- P.L. 104-1 (Jan. 23, 1995); codified at 2 USC Chapter 24
- Section 220(d) of P.L. 104-1 concerns unionization for legislative support agency staff (i.e., not personal, committee, leadership, and some inside the House or Senate).
- Section 220(e) of P.L. 104-1 concerns unionization for congressional staff (i.e., personal, committee, leadership, and some support office staff)
- The Concurrent resolution, H. Con Res. 207 (Sept. 28, 1996), adopting regulations of the Office of Compliance with respect to Section 220(d) staff).
- H.Res 1096adopts regulations of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights with respect to Section 220(e) staff in the House of Representatives. No comparable resolution has been adopted in the Senate or concerning shared staff. As shown below, the Office of Compliance did go through a rulemaking process to recommend to Congress that the regulations that apply to section 220(d) staff can be applied to section 220(e) staff.
- Here are the OOC's Collective Bargaining and Unionization Final Regulations, adopted by the Board of Director and approved by Congress in 1996.
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Rules of Procedure S17012 (Nov. 14, 1995)
- Adoption of Rules of Procedure S19239 (Dec. 22, 1995)
- Notice of Proposed Amendments to Procedural Rules, Office of Compliance -- Congressional Record H7454 (July 11, 1996)
- Section 220(d) of P.L. 104-1
- Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for section 220(d) and 220(e) S1547 (March 6, 1996)
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for section 220(d) S5070 (May 15, 1996)
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for section 220(d) H5153 (May 15, 1996)
- The Concurrent resolution adopting regulations of the Office of Compliance with respect to Section 220(d) staff) -- H. Con Res. 207 (Sept. 28, 1996). Here's the actions page on the resolution from Congress.gov. Here's the debate from the Congressional Record in the House and Senate.
Section 220(e) Office of Compliance Rulemaking Process (personal, committee, leadership, and some House and Senate staff)
- Section 220(e) of P.L. 104-1
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for section 220(e) H5563-68 S 5552-56 (May 23, 1996)
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for section 220(e) Extension of Period for Comment H6114 (June 10, 1996)
- Notice of Adoption of Final Regulations for section 220(e) and Submission for Approval by Congress H10019 (September 4, 1996)
Based on its analysis of the foregoing, on the present rulemaking record, the Board has determined that: Under the terms of the CAA, the requirements and exemptions of chapter 71 shall apply to covered employees who are employed in section 220(e)(2) offices in the same manner and to the same extent as those requirements and exemptions are applied to covered employees in all other employing offices; No additional exclusions from coverage of any covered employees of section 220(e) offices because of (i) a conflict of interest or appearance of conflict of interest or (ii) Congress’ constitutional responsibilities are required; and In accord with section 220(e)(2)(H) of the CAA, eight additional offices beyond those identified in the Board’s NPR perform ‘‘comparable functions’’ to those offices identified in section 220(e)(2). The Board is adopting final regulations that effectuate these conclusions.
- Notice of Issuance of Final Regulations Pursuant to the Congressional Accountability Act H5006 (May 16, 2022)
The Office of Compliance stated the following with respect to how the House or Senate, acting individually or jointly, may approve regulations adopted by the Office of Compliance.
The Board received no comments on the method of approval for these regulations.Therefore, the Board continues to recommend that (1) the version of the regulations that shall apply to the Senate and employees of the Senate should be approved by the Senate by resolution; (2) the version of the regulations that shall apply to the House of Representatives and employees of the House of Representatives should be approved by the House of Representatives by resolution; and (3) the version of the regulations that apply to other covered employees and employing offices should be approved by concurrent resolution.
- Note: The Office of Compliance was renamed the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act, P.L. 115-397 (December 21, 2018)
- Main website
- Final regulations
- Annual reports
- 102b biennial reports, on the extent to which federal law applies to Congress
- "Congressional Accountability and Denial: Speech or Debate Clause and Conflict of Interest Challenges to Unionization of Congressional Employees," James Brudney (1999)
- "Practicing What We Preach: A Legislative History of the Congressional Accountability Act," Sen. Charles Grassley and Jennifer Shaw Schmidt (1998)
- Congress Staff May Not Gain Right to Union, New York Times (July 23, 1996)
- Secretary of the Senate (April 4, 1996)
- AFSCME (April 5, 1996)
- Teamsters (April 5, 1996)
- American Federation of Government Employees (April 9, 1996)
- AFL CIO (April 11, 1996)
- AFL CIO (July 1, 1996)
- Secretary of the Senate (July 1, 1996)
- House Education Committee (July 2, 1996)
- Rep. Radanovich (July 2, 1996)