We want a union now – Council staff
A growing number of City Council staffers are telling the body to put its money where its progressive mouth is and welcome their new efforts to form a union.
Staffers on Monday launched an effort to create a union they hope will empower them to negotiate salaries and workplace protections.
“The Council as an institution is not being reflective of the supposedly progressive values that the speaker is promoting and other members of the Council are promoting,” said organZara izer Nasir, Progressive Caucus director.
“We want to be able to fight for potentially a minimum salary [and] more,” she added. “We want recourse for folks from harassment, from intimidation, from bullying from senior staff and the members.”
Nasir and other Council staffers began gathering colleagues’ signatures for the union effort Monday.
They’re hoping to get at least 150 of the Council’s 775 total staffers onboard, at which point they’ll take steps to launch the “Association for Legislative Employees” union.
Council Speaker Corey Johnson is encouragthe ing effort. “I support unionization, so if the staff here at the City Council wants to take that step, I wholeheartedly support them and I want to make it as easy as possible for them to do that,” the Manhattan Dem said last week.
The union’s cause got renewed impetus last month, when the Council Standards and Ethics Committee revealed stunning allegations of retaliation and abuse of power against Councilman Andy King (D-Bronx).
Some staffers were furious when the Council voted Oct. 28 to suspend King — instead of firing him — over allegations that the lawmaker had driven out three employees who cooperated with investigators, among other charges.
The King case prompted a group of staffers to form an anti-sexual harassment group, which is expected to issue recommendations.
They and the union advocates share common goals, said Nasir.
“The system is not set up in a way where the most vulnerable employees can actually make complaints,” she explained, adding that the antiharassment group will take a narrower focus than the union advocates.
The latter’s agenda includes salary complaints. About 10% of Council staff earned between $27,300 and $35,100 a year as of July — nearly minimum wage — according to Politico. The top salary of any staffer was $245,000, for Council chief of staff Jason Goldman.
“We see ourselves as being a link between staff and their members and the institution,” said union organizer Ndigo Washington, legislative director for Councilwoman Inez Barron (DBrooklyn). “A huge disparity exists with staffers.”
The staffers decided to create a new union after meeting with existing unions that weren’t interested in welcoming Council employees — a political hot potato.