House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) presents a bill to allow legislative staff to unionize. Members of Welch’s staff who have pushed to form a union sit behind him. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line] 

Members of House Speaker Chris Welch’s (D-Hillside) staff have publicly pressured Welch over the last half a year to allow legislative staff to form a union. In an effort to acknowledge his staff’s efforts, Welch successfully passed a measure through committee on Tuesday that would allow legislative staff to collectively bargain.