Republican staffers deny involvement in union

An effort to unionize Legislative Hall employees is moving forward, a union organizer says, although Republican staffers have denied their involvement.

“Staff members from the Republican Senate Caucus wish to address much misinformation that has been spread during the past two weeks by a small number of staffers within the Democratic caucuses,” a Jan. 29 statement from the Republican Senate Caucus staff read, referring to a Jan. 14 press release circulated by a group called the Delaware General Assembly Union. No one was identified in the union press release, which stated a majority of Democratic, Republican and nonpartisan staff of the House of Representatives and state Senate intend to unionize with the Delaware Public Employees Council 81 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

At the time, Michael Begatto, executive director of Delaware AFSCME 81, said a majority of legislative aides from both parties and caucuses was looking to unionize in an effort to codify working conditions.

Senate Republican Caucus staffers deny any involvement.

“This is not true. In fact, Senate Minority staff were blindsided by that morning's release. We had not been involved in any discussions to that point,” the statement reads.

Caucus staff continued to say that two days after the union release was circulated, they had been assured that a union announcement would be corrected. “However, at the time of this writing, a correction has not been issued,” it reads.

Contacted after Republican staffers released their statement, Begatto said it was still his understanding that the effort to unionize was a bipartisan effort across caucuses. “If they changed their position, they can change their position,” he said.

Begatto said they are still in the early stages of unionizing, which includes collecting signed cards from staffers who want to unionize – a change from the majority of signed cards from the roughly 45 legislative hall staffers he said he already had Jan. 14, with more signatures expected.

So far, Begatto said, nothing is final.

“We have not completed the process,” he said, without going into details. Before a group can unionize, a majority of employees must sign cards that express their desire to bring in a union.

Signed cards would be collected by the union and then given to the Public Employee Relations Board for verification before a vote to unionize could be held.

Moving forward, Republican staffers said they are gathering information, and they would like to be included in discussions about unionizing before a decision is made. They said they are not being mistreated, as has been inferred by some on talk radio and social media.

“We felt it is necessary to set the record straight,” staffers wrote. “Some of our staffers are very active members of their communities, and their reputations have been tarnished in the eyes of some community members because of a lie.”

Staffers said they would have no further comment.