Field Museum workers win first union contract

Field Museum Workers United/AFSCME members overwhelmingly approved their first-ever union contract, with more than 94% voting “yes!” to ratify the four-year agreement.

Nearly 300 Field employees formed their union in March 2023, joining thousands of cultural workers across Chicago who have also organized local unions with AFSCME Council 31.

Melissa Anderson, a library collections and preservations specialist and a 20-year Field employee, said that Field employees were subject to what they called a “loyalty tax,” which is their way of describing how management used the museum’s world-class prestige and important mission to justify paying low wages. 

Breaking the museum out of that way of thinking took effort. In March, employees organized a massive picket near the museum’s iconic front steps to get management’s attention when they stalled in reaching an agreement.

“That was solidarity,” said Stanley Banks, a visitor services representative who served on the bargaining committee. “Museum guests were walking up and getting into the picket, some of them were members of other unions. That rally helped us create movement at the table.”

Just weeks later, the Field employees had an agreement on their first-ever union contract.

The contract delivers pay increases ranging from nearly 14% to more than 17%, increased compensation for bilingual skills and translation services and an improved retirement plan with dollar-for-dollar matching.

The union also won crucial workplace protections, including the establishment of a grievance procedure and stronger disciplinary rights. 

“Having disciplinary and grievance procedures—that's major for us,” Anderson said. “We now have things in place where someone can't decide tomorrow that they're going to fire you because of some random reason.”

The agreement also brings housekeeping duties in-house and ensures those workers receive the union wages and benefits to which they’re entitled  

“We created a strong foundation,” Banks said. “And now we’re ready to build on it.”