The DNC has a labor problem
By: Cameron Davis (The Hill)
The DNC has an unionized labor problem with its own workforce. No, this is not political analysis. The story is about the DNC having to walk the talk.
Ironic, ain't it?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Managers at this long-troubled employer have notorious problems staying financially solvent. Fancy consultants claim to have the answers, yet their advice hasn't paid off. And a rift between the bosses and the union has been simmering for months.
This isn't some bankrupt Rust Belt factory or mismanaged mom-and-pop — it's the Democratic National Committee.
Workforce problems at the DNC have already been getting attention, with particular ire directed toward the professional Democratic consultant class. 2024 postmortems have consistently blamed the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on consulting firms run by party insiders, and in this year's campaign to be the new DNC chair, every major candidate aligned on "D.C. consultants" as a common enemy.
But one new workforce challenge facing the party has flown under the public radar: a staff union.
The DNC ratified its first union contract just this summer, and despite the generational opportunity for Democrats to step up against a uniquely toxic Republican administration, the union has spent its nascent months distracted by marginal grievances. This should be especially worrying to anyone hoping for Democrats to make gains in next year's midterms. Party leadership, including new chairman Ken Martin, must act before it's too late.
Martin's recent return-to-work announcement, with staff required in the party's headquarters five days a week starting February, was the latest case in point. Within hours, the union was in uproar, describing the decision as "shocking" and "especially callous." Hyperbolic responses to requests like this can be no way to run a political party.
That's not to say that Democrats can't (or shouldn't) be the party for organized labor. They ought to be proud of their strong heritage of pro-worker policies, fighting for those who are the most marginalized in the workforce, from FDR's creation of the Fair Labor Standards Act to platform planks protecting hourly and gig workers. To honor this legacy, the party must continue to focus foremost on supporting the least well-off. That will be tough when the DNC's own managerial class continues to act as if the committee were a static workplace rather than the fast-moving activist organization it must be.
That disconnect — between reasonable, pro-labor policies the Democratic Party should espouse, and ever greater demands of the party's full-time operatives — has been expanding, and will only hurt members of the party and the Americans it claims to represent.
For instance, both political parties have always hired temporary staff during election cycles, letting people go after a loss. This past November, the DNC made such routine cuts, with 95 percent of staffers laid off being "cycle hires." Yet the union lashed out, calling it a "betrayal." It will be hard to forget this overreaction the next time Democratic leadership needs to hire, whether ahead of 2026 midterms or the 2028 presidential election. The resulting underinvestment will understaff and overwork remaining union members.
Outside the DNC, other related groups within the Beltway Democratic ecosystem have similarly lost the plot on labor standards in a way that no doubt seeps into DNC union rhetoric. This January, the Congressional Progressive Staff Association (CPSA) petitioned for a four-day workweek — a move so painfully out of touch that Democratic lawmaker Ritchie Torres commented, "I wonder how blue-collar Americans would feel about white-collar workers demanding a 32-hour workweek." We can only surmise how CPSA and DNC staffs might have shared notes on requests like these.
Although the union agreement is in effect for four years, tying management's hands and making reopening talks infeasible, Martin can begin ameliorating the situation in three ways that will be good for party operations and for union members themselves.
First, co-create solutions. To avoid public crises, such as with the return-to-office announcement, the executive team must work harder to communicate planning processes before decisions are made.
Second, de-escalate early. Heading off the episodic flare-ups we've seen, DNC leadership must stay on a consistent message — i.e., Democrats support unions, but a political party is not a traditional 9-to-5 workplace, and flexibility is vital.
Third, establish a labor management committee to formalize ongoing dialogue and foster empathy; after all, the party cannot have another four years of the union saying every choice is "callous."
There's no question that working at a national political party is a tough gig. Martin himself has called his role as chairman "the shittiest job in America." And the DNC should strive to be an employer that attracts and retains top talent. But solidarity with labor should not mean ceding the operational excellence required to win elections. The DNC must show it can uphold workers' rights and run a disciplined, high-performance organization — or risk failing at both.
Cameron Davis is a graduate student at Harvard Kennedy School.
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Hey, Democrats, welcome to the real world of union contracts and labor relations. Not quite as easy in practice as it is in theory, is it?