Field Museum employees win union with AFSCME

Nearly 300 employees of the Field Museum have won their union with AFSCME Council 31. Votes were counted on March 9 in a union election administered in February by the National Labor Relations Board.

An overwhelming majority of workers at the Field voted Yes to form their union.

“We’re thrilled that our coworkers have decisively said yes to our union, Field Museum Workers United/AFSCME,” the organizing committee wrote in announcing the news. “We also voted to form one bargaining unit for all Field Museum titles, because we know that we’re stronger together.”

The workers’ overwhelming win comes despite an aggressive and costly anti-union campaign by museum management that tried to convince them to vote No.

In the coming weeks, the new union members will begin the process of preparing to bargain their first union contract, including electing a bargaining committee to represent them in negotiations and distributing a bargaining survey so everyone can share the issues that matter to them.

“In Chicago and nationwide, cultural workers are organizing to claim their seat at the table, improve their institutions, and win fair compensation and respect,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. “AFSCME is proud to be at the forefront of this movement for change.”