Workers at Chicago's MCA become latest museum staff to launch union drive

Staff at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art announced plans to unionize Wednesday, becoming the latest workforce to launch a union campaign at a major Chicago cultural institution in recent years.

In an open letter signed by 32 staff members —about a third of union-eligible workers at the museum — employees said they were seeking wages that kept pace with inflation and Chicago’s cost of living, guarantees that benefits including sick leave and paid time off will not be decreased and will be expanded when possible, protections from layoffs and transparency around compensation.

The staff members eventually plan to file for a union election with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which since 2022 has added to its ranks workers at the Art Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park and the Newberry Library, a research library on the Near North Side. Staff and non-tenure-track faculty at the Art Institute’s affiliated school have also voted to unionize with AFSCME.

If workers at the museum vote to unionize, the new bargaining unit would include about 100 staff members, including curatorial and collections employees, building operations staff, front desk staff, retail workers and tour guides.

“We are aware of the announced intention to form a union,” the museum said in a statement Wednesday. “We respect the rights of employees to organize and we do not have further comment at this time.”

Lloyd-Princeton Cangé, a visitor experience associate who supports forming a union, said he was inspired by union campaigns both within and outside the art world, including those launched by workers at Amazon, the Art Institute and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, near where he is from in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and where staff are unionized with AFSCME.

“I wanted greater transparency and accountability from leadership and management,” said Cangé, who has worked at the museum since 2022. “There are a lot of decisions that are made that directly affect my job and my department and my co-workers, and we rarely if ever have a say in those decisions.”

In their open letter, MCA staff said they are often required to do work outside of their job responsibilities to compensate for staffing shortages at the museum.

“While we understand the challenges all museums face, measures to balance the budget while also aiming to return to pre-pandemic attendance numbers have caused a vicious cycle of staff burnout and turnover,” the letter read. “We are overworked in a number of ways: through near-constant exhibition turnovers, hosting in-person programming on par with a pre-pandemic calendar, tight publication deadlines, and more.”

Art Institute museum staff became the first workers at a major Chicago museum to ratify a first contract when they did so in August; Newberry Library staff secured their own first contract in the fall. Staff at the Museum of Science and Industry expect to begin bargaining with museum management next week, according to union spokesperson Anders Lindall.

Staff at the MCA can file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board when 30% or more of prospective bargaining unit members have signed union authorization cards. Staff can also seek voluntary recognition from the museum if they secure support from a majority of eligible workers.

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