Democratic National Committee (DNC) staff are in revolt after they were ordered back to work from their office.
Working from home for some of the week had been permitted at the Democrat headquarters in Washington, DC, since the pandemic.
But on Wednesday, Ken Martin, the party chairman, ordered everyone to return to the office five days a week from February, during an all-staff meeting, the New York Times reported.
Mr Martin said it was necessary to ensure staff were fully engaged ahead of the midterms, when decisions are often made quickly and in-person.
He said that if people did not like it, they should find somewhere else to work, although working from home exceptions would be granted on a case by case basis.
On the Zoom call in which the announcement was made, a flurry of thumbs down emojis flooded in from those who were working from home at the time, according to The New York Times.
At one point during the call, one staff member is said to have pointed out to Mr Martin that the party had won the 2020 election while working from home.
‘Callous’
The party’s union described the full-time office return as “callous”.
“It was shocking to see the DNC chair disregard staff’s valid concerns on today’s team call,” a spokesman for the DNC Staff Union told The New York Times.
“DNC staff worked extremely hard to support historic wins for Democrats up and down the ballot last Tuesday, and this change feels especially callous considering the current economic conditions created by the Trump administration.”
The statement continued: “The DNC staff union remains committed to supporting our employees as whole people and will continue to hold management accountable to our contract.”
The DNC was contacted for comment.
