City Council supports Massachusetts State House Employee Union

Since the summer 2020 formation of Beacon B.L.O.C (Building Leaders of Color), led by a collective of Black staffers of the Massachusetts State House, legislative staff have organized necessary reforms to advance workplace equity.

On Thursday, March 31, 2022, representatives of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2222 notified the President of the Massachusetts Senate of the successful majority of authorization cards supporting the formation of a Massachusetts Senate staff union, and House staff are poised to follow suit.

Once recognized, the Massachusetts State House Employee Union will become the second state legislative staff union in the country, after Oregon in May 2021. Legislative staff are vital to the work of government in supporting constituents and enacting good public policy, and a workplace that supports its staff fosters a strong, open, and respectful culture that will best serve residents of the Commonwealth.

The City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts consistently supports unions and organized labor, believing that every worker deserves a union. This week, the Council adopted a resolution supporting unionization efforts of legislative staff and urged voluntary recognition of the Massachusetts State House Employee Union as the second legislative union nationwide.