State House and Senate staff who have spent more than three years publicly waging a fruitless battle for collective bargaining rights achieved something of a moral victory this summer, when they convinced Massachusetts Democratic Party delegates to put new support for their campaign in writing.  

Thanks to an amendment adopted at the Democrats’ state convention, the official party platform explicitly supports providing legislative aides with “the compensation, support, and collective bargaining rights they deserve.” It marked the latest sign of unionization backing from a party that regularly pitches itself as pro-labor, following endorsements from most of the state’s all Democratic congressional delegation and then-gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey.  

There’s just one hitch: the seemingly widespread support for legislative staff unionization makes little difference if, as continues to be the case, the two Democrats who control the Legislature aren’t on board.   

Years after staff went public with their demands, the two people who call the shots in the Legislature show no interest in allowing them to organize. Meanwhile, supporters who have sway on Beacon Hill are not expending much political capital — if any — on the effort.  

That leaves State House aides in a mostly powerless position, with the most obvious routes forward both blocked by legislative leaders.   

Senate President Karen Spilka has declined to recognize the staff union, saying the chamber’s attorney concluded that legislative staff under statute do not receive the same collective bargaining rights afforded to most other public employees. In the House, where organizing aides have not yet achieved a majority of staff with signed union cards, Speaker Ron Mariano has not weighed in.  

Some lawmakers proposed legislation that would clear up the legal concern raised by the Senate president’s team and award those rights, but House and Senate bosses who decide which bills get votes have so far kept the measures on ice.  

To frustrated legislative staff members leading the union drive, the commitment of Democratic leaders to organized labor should begin at home.     

“This is a test of the Legislature’s commitment to collective bargaining rights and our pro-union rhetoric,” said Ravi Simon, a House employee and one of the organizers of the unionization effort. “I would hope that legislators that consider themselves pro-union would approach this issue with real thoughtfulness and from a perspective of trying to figure out how to make collective bargaining and unionization work in the State House.”