Chicago Art Institute union doubles in size; more than 600 nontenured faculty members will join

 

Dec 13, 2022 

More than 600 adjunct professors and lecturers at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago will become part of the school’s union following a Tuesday vote, doubling the size of the city’s first major museum union.

The Art Institute of Chicago Workers United already represents about 600 staff members at both the museum and its affiliated school. The union is represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which also represents unionized museum workers at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

According to AFSCME Council 31, adjunct professors and lecturers voted 377-33 to unionize...

In January, Art Institute workers formed the Art Institute of Chicago Workers United after a 142-44 vote. School of the Art Institute staff members voted 115-48 in favor of the union soon after. The union includes workers such as curators, retail employees custodians and librarians at the museum and academic advisers, administrative workers and mailroom employees at the school.

Non-tenure-track faculty members will now form a third bargaining unit under the union’s umbrella. They announced their intention to unionize in May and asked school management for voluntary recognition of their union in September. After school management declined to recognize the union, workers filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board, said Anders Lindall, a spokesperson for AFSCME Council 31.