The Campaign Workers Guild is a labor union that seeks to organize campaign workers who work for Democratic Party candidates and associated organizations. ¹ In June 2024, it was announced that the re-election campaign of President Joe Biden reached an agreement with the Campaign Workers Guild for its members to unionize. ^{2 3}

Since its founding in 2017, the Campaign Workers Guild has worked with more than 60 Democratic campaigns and Democratic-aligned organizations, including NextGen America, ⁴ the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), ActBlue, Fireside Campaigns, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and several state-level organizations of the Democratic Party. ⁵

History and Leadership

The Campaign Workers Guild was founded by Meg Reilly in 2017. ⁶ Prior to founding the Campaign Workers Guild, Reilly was a labor union organizer and a staffer on the unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Reilly left her vice president role at Campaign Workers Guild in May 2022. ^{7 8 9}

As of July 2024, Ngakay Wong is the president of the Campaign Workers Guild and Taylor Billings is its organizing director. ¹⁰ The labor union also has an executive council that consists of 17 members. ¹¹

Activities and Membership

The Campaign Workers Guild is a national labor union that seeks to organize campaign workers who work for Democratic Party candidates that support pro-labor union policies. ¹ The organization was founded in 2017 amid complaints from campaign staffers that they worked double the standard work week for less than the minimum wage and did not receive health care benefits. ¹²

Like many labor unions, the organization prefers to seek voluntary recognition for its bargaining units rather than recognition through a National Labor Relations Board-supervised secret-ballot vote. For workers to get Campaign Workers Guild representation, a majority must sign an authorization card and then ask for recognition from the campaign’s management. ¹³

Working members of the union are covered by a Campaign Workers Guild contract and pay $30 monthly dues. Associate members of the labor union retain voting rights despite not working for a campaign during their time of associate membership. Solidarity members are the smallest portion of the labor union and can pay what they would like to be members, but do not hold voting power. ¹⁴

In posts on the Action Network website, Campaign Workers Guild’s official sign-on letter classifies the Democratic Party as a “champion of labor rights.” ¹⁵

The organization has endorsed a letter organized by the far-left March on Washington for Gaza that called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, an end to unconditional United States funding of Israel, and demanded that Israel be held accountable for alleged war crimes against individuals in the Palestinian territories. ^{16 17} It also publishes a jobs board ¹⁸ and has claimed that its members fight for “equitable” contracts. ¹⁹

Organizing Efforts

The Campaign Workers Guild has represented more than 60 political campaigns and advocacy groups since it was founded in 2017. ¹⁰ In 2017, the campaign of Wisconsin Democrat Randy Bryce (D), who was challenging then-U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan (R-WI), became the first campaign to have a labor union organized by the Campaign Workers Guild. ^{20 13} In 2018, the Democratic Party of Ohio became the first state party to recognize the union. ²¹

In June 2024, it was announced that the re-election campaign of President Joe Biden reached an agreement with Campaign Workers Guild for its members to unionize. Biden is the first incumbent president to seek re-election with a unionized campaign staff. ^{2 3}

The Campaign Workers Guild has negotiated collective bargaining agreements with the political campaigns and Democratic Party-affiliated organizations including the campaign of President Joe Biden (D), Middle Seat Consulting, ²² NextGen America, ⁴ the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), Aisle 518, ActBlue, Fireside Campaigns, Break Something, New Blue Interactive, the Democratic Party of Oregon, ²³ David Zuckerman for Vermont Governor, Zo for Austin, Mandela Barnes for Senate, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the Missouri Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Organizing Staff, the Future PAC, the Democratic Party of North Carolina field staff and non-field staff, the Mission for Arizona Headquarters Staff, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Show Me Change, the Missouri Coordinated Campaign, the Authentic Campaigns, ²⁴ and numerous other campaigns and Democratic Party-affiliated organizations. ^{5 24}

Funding

The Campaign Workers Guild receives its money from member dues. ²⁵ In 2023, the organization reported revenue of $182,999 and expenses of $153,214. ²⁶ The organization reported revenue of $142,469 and expenses of $123,418 in 2022. ^{27 28}

1. Day, Eli. “Campaign Workers’ Union Pushes Democrats to Practice What They Preach.” Mother Jones. February 2018. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/02/campaign-workers-union-pushes-democrats-to-practice-what-they-preach/.
2. Liptak, Kevin. “Biden campaign HQ staffers finalize union agreement, 1st presidential reelection campaign to do so.” ABC 11. June 1, 2024. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://abc11.com/post/joe-biden-campaign-hq-staffers-finalize-union-agreement/14896608/.
3. Saenz, Arlette. “Biden campaign recognizing unionizing efforts by headquarters staff.” CNN Politics. March 7, 2024.. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/07/politics/biden-campaign-recognizing-unionizing-efforts-by-headquarters-staff/index.html.
4. “NextGen America and Campaign Workers Guild Sign Voluntary Recognition Agreement.” NextGen America. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://nextgenamerica.org/press/nextgen-america-and-campaign-workers-guild-sign-voluntary-recognition-agreement/.
5. Who We’ve Represented.” Campaign Workers Guild. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://campaignworkersguild.org/who-weve-represented.
6. “About.” Campaign Workers Guild LinkedIn Profile. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/company/campaignworkersguild/about/.
7. “Campaign Workers, Unite! There is Power in a Union (with Meg Reilly of Campaign Workers Guild & Shanequa Charles.” Irresistible Podcast. 2017. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/campaign-workers-unite-there-is-power-in-a-union/id1308078502?i=1000422490664.
8. Marans, Daniel. “Why the First Unionized Political Campaign Is a Game-Changer for the Left.” Huffington Post. February 13, 2018. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/randy-bryce-first-unionized-political-campaign_n_5a831fb9e4b02b66c51255b0.
9. “Campaign Workers Guild.” Short Form Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990-EZ). 2022. Part IV. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/823165957/202343039349201319/full.
10. Will Weissert and Zeke Miller. “Pro-labor? Biden aims to prove it with unionized 2024 staff.” Associated Press. March 24, 2023. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/biden-campaign-2024-union-labor-254d11b044a4bf2209ec434a702a1b96.
11. “Governance.” Campaign Workers Guild. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://campaignworkersguild.org/governance.
12. “About.” Campaign Workers Guild. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://campaignworkersguild.org/what-we-do.
13. Miller, Sean J. “Democratic Consultants Looking to Boost Campaign Workers Guild.” Campaigns & Elections. February 14, 2018. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://campaignsandelections.com/industry-news/democratic-consultants-looking-to-boost-campaign-workers-guild/.
14. “Join the Campaign Workers Guild!” Campaign Workers Guild. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://donorbox.org/join-the-campaign-workers-guild.
15. “Campaign Workers Guild Sign-On Letter.” Action Network. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/campaign-workers-guild-sign-on-letter?source=direct_link.
16. “Endorsers.” March on Washington for Gaza. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://march4gaza.org/endorsers/.
17. “March on Washington for Gaza.” March on Washington for Gaza Google Docs Sign Up Sheet. January 13, 2024. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd2jK8Ui59m5-btf6zHJZA34kIBEAQroVv-ms5v5g80XEKmWQ/viewform.
18. “Submit a job to the CWG Jobs Board.” Campaign Workers Guild. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://campaignworkersguild.org/jobs.
19. “X Post.” Campaign Workers Guild X Page. Posted June 3, 2024. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://x.com/CWG_Workers/status/1797603564485001479.
20. Jilani, Zaid. “Jess King Becomes the Second Congressional Candidate Nationwide Whose Campaign Workers Have Unionized.” The Intercept. February 17, 2018. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://theintercept.com/2018/02/17/jess-king-becomes-the-second-congressional-candidate-nationwide-whose-campaign-workers-have-unionized/.
21.  “Ohio Democratic campaign staffers fight the state party for a fair contract.” United Steelworkers. September 16, 2018. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://m.usw.org/blog/2018/ohio-democratic-campaign-staffers-fight-the-state-party-for-a-fair-contract
22. “Collective Bargaining Agreement between Campaign Workers Guild and Middle Seat, LLC.” June 2019. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/olms/regs/compliance/cba/2019/private_/middleseatllc_k9993_053121.pdf.
23. “Democratic Party of Oregon ratifies agreement with the Campaign Workers Guild.” Democratic Party of Oregon. November 3, 2022. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://dpo.org/news/press-releases/dpounited/.
24. “About.” Campaign Workers Guild. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://campaignworkersguild.org/our-contracts.
25. “Join.” Campaign Workers Guild. Accessed July 7, 2024. https://campaignworkersguild.org/join.
26. “The Campaign Workers Guild.” United States Department of Labor. (Form LM-3 Labor Organizational Annual Report.) 2023. Statements A and B.
27. “Campaign Workers Guild.” Short Form Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 EZ). 2022. Part I. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/823165957/202343039349201319/full.
28. “The Campaign Workers Guild.” United States Department of Labor. (Form LM-3 Labor Organizational Annual Report.) 2022. Statements A and B.