Staff at the Museum of Science and Industry have voted to unionize, becoming the latest group of Chicago museum workers to choose representation with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The staff, who work in guest experiences, operations and the museum’s education department, voted in two groups. Vote tallies were announced Saturday in the election held by the National Labor Relations Board.
The larger group of employees voted 79-26 to unionize, according to the union. The results of the vote of a smaller group of employees deemed “professional” by the NLRB remain undecided, said AFSCME Council 31 spokesperson Anders Lindall. The group includes some members of the museum’s education department, he said.
Workers in that group voted 9-6 to unionize. Three other ballots cast among the professional workers were challenged by museum management, Lindall said. The results of the challenged ballots could determine the results of the professional employee vote.
If the union maintains its lead once ballot challenges are resolved for the second group, the Museum of Science & Industry Workers United would represent about 140 employees. In a news release, the union said it was “very confident” the second group would also vote to unionize.
“Although we do not yet have the full results of this weekend’s vote, the outcome will not change our commitment to our employees,” Kelsey Ryan, museum director of public relations, said in a statement. “Our priority is to continue building our positive workplace culture that supports the Museum of Science and Industry and benefits the greater Chicago community.”
Santi Van Lysebettens, 23, works as a facilitator at the museum giving tours to visitors and is also a member of the workers’ organizing committee.
“Informal education is very much my passion, and I have never faltered in my passion with my job,” Van Lysebettens said. “But I guess I am coming to work with a little more hope now — that I’m going to be paid a little bit better, that I can have a say in my job.”
When they launched their union campaign in April, museum workers pointed to pay, high turnover and understaffing as areas in which they were seeking change.
Over the last year and a half, workers at the Art Institute and its affiliated school, the Field Museum and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum have all unionized with AFSCME. Many of the unionized museum employees have cited similar workplace concerns as the Science and Industry staff as the impetus for their union drives.
In a news release, science museum workers accused the museum’s management of leading a “divisive anti-union campaign.” Lindall pointed to the museum’s hiring of the law firm Jackson Lewis as well as what he described as a campaign in which supervisors individually pressured workers to vote against the union.
Ryan said the museum disagreed with the union’s characterization.
“We value science and the progress that our society has made through asking questions,” Ryan said in a statement. “Our goal was always to protect and empower each employee’s ability to ask questions, to access information, and to learn so they may make an informed choice as to whether they wish to be represented by a union.”
Van Lysebettens said they hoped the museum would work together with workers to reach a first contract.
“We are determined to make sure that the museum has this positive culture of respect whether or not management is going to be a part of it,” Van Lysebettens said. “But we really do hope that they choose to take the high ground with us and bargain in good faith.”
