The Museum of Science and Industry employees voted to form a union, becoming the latest group of Chicago Museum employees to elect representatives from the Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees of the United States.
Staff working in the guest experience, operations, and museum education departments were divided into two groups to vote. Voting tallies for the election conducted by the National Labor Relations Commission were released on Saturday.
A large group of employees voted 79 to 26 in favor of forming a union, according to the union. AFSCME Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall said the results of the vote for the small number of employees the NLRB deemed “professional” were still pending. The group also includes members of the museum’s education department, he said.
The workers in that group voted 9 to 6 in favor of forming a union. The other three votes cast among professional staff were challenged by museum administrators, Lindall said. The outcome of the appeal ballot may determine the outcome of the professional employee vote.
If the union maintains its lead after the second group’s voting objections are resolved, the Union of Museum Workers of Science and Industry will represent about 140 employees. In a news release, the union said it was “very confident” that the second group would also vote to form the union.
“Although the full results of this weekend’s vote are not yet available, they will not change our commitment to our employees,” museum public affairs director Kelsey Ryan said in a statement. “Our priority is to support the Museum of Science and Industry and continue to build a positive work culture that benefits Chicago’s greater community.”
Santi Van Liesevetens, 23, works as a tour guide for visitors at the museum and is a member of the workers’ organizing committee.
“Informal education is my passion and my passion for my work has never wavered,” Van Riesevetens said. “But I think I come to work with a little more hope now. It means I get paid a little better and have a say in what I do.”
When the museum launched its union campaign in April, museum workers cited wages, high turnover and staffing shortages as areas they wanted to change.
Over the past year and a half, staff at the museum and its affiliated schools, the Field Museum, and the Peggy Notbert Nature Museum have all unionized with AFSCME. Many of the unionized museum workers cite similar workplace concerns as the driving force behind their union activism.
In a news release, science museum officials accused museum management of leading a “divisive anti-union campaign.” Lindall pointed to the museum’s hiring of law firm Jackson Lewis and what supervisors described as a campaign to pressure workers to vote individually against the union.
Ryan said the museum disagreed with the characterization of the union.
“We focus on science and the progress society has made through asking questions,” Ryan said in a statement. “Our goal has always been to protect and empower each employee’s ability to ask questions, access information, learn, and make informed choices about whether or not they want to be represented in their trade union. It was to make it work.”
Van Riesevetens said the museum hopes to work with staff to reach the first contract.
“We are determined to ensure that we have this positive culture that the museum respects, regardless of whether management participates or not,” said Van Rysbetens. “But we sincerely hope that they choose to take the high ground with us and negotiate in good faith.”
