Organizers with a national movement to unionize campaign workers say with the high-pressure and temporary nature of campaign work, there’s often a push to ignore problems like harassment.
“We think that (campaigns) are important and working really hard to elect the candidates is something that can change the future of our state,” said Emma LaBounty, an Illinois-based organizer with the Campaign Workers Guild. “But, it’s also something where a lot of times employers will use that as a reason why people should just put their head, work really hard and just not allow themselves to worry about anything else. . . until after election day.”
Four Chicago House Democrats recently held a meeting with the Campaign Workers Guild. Campaign workers were invited to talk about their experiences and what they wanted to see change in the workplace.
Meanwhile, one of the legislative groups tasked with addressing sexual harassment in Illinois government is looking to change the state election code and Human Rights Act to add protections for campaign workers.