50,000 Workers Strong! AFSCME Cultural Workers United Hits 5-Year Milestone

AFSCME Cultural Workers United hit a milestone this year. Fifty thousand workers at museums, libraries, zoos and other cultural institutions have won a voice on the job by forming a union with AFSCME — more than any other union.  

Cultural workers have a long history of winning by organizing with AFSCME. For instance, workers at America’s library — the Library of Congress — formed a union through AFSCME District Council 20 in 1976.  

But five years ago, as COVID-19 ravaged the world, cultural workers increasingly recognized the need to build power at work. The pandemic shone a light on long-simmering workplace issues and ignited an urgency among cultural workers to demand job security and a safe workplace. 

The result? AFSCME cultural workers launched their Cultural Workers United movement.  

From coast to coast, cultural workers joined together to address issues that had long plagued anyone trying to build a career in this sector. Dismal wages that were often viewed as concessions for working at prestigious institutions. Lack of accountability and transparency from management. And an overall exclusion of workers’ voices in setting workplace policies.

In recent years, thousands of cultural workers have formed new unions with AFSCME in big cities, small towns, and rural areas all over the country, from New York to California.

 

In states where local labor laws have historically restricted collective bargaining, AFSCME CWU members fought for their union freedom. Previously excluded library workers in Maryland, Colorado, Utah and Louisiana now have the power to collectively bargain.

AFSCME CWU is also making waves in cities like Philadelphia, where workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) gained national attention for their historic three-week strike that ended when workers secured a contract that met all of their demands. That included wage increases totaling 14%, substantial reductions to health care plan costs, four weeks of paid parental leave, and more.  

And just a few states over, a boom of new organizing spread throughout Illinois. In just a few short years, 2,500 cultural workers from the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Field Museum, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Newberry Library and other institutions have formed their unions through Illinois Cultural Workers United-AFSCME Council 31.  

PMA workers’ organizing success gave a boost to other museum workers in the city, and now workers at six cultural institutions have won their union with Philly CWU Local 397. 

In California, the organizing fervor also took hold at modern art museums such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and expanded to other cultural landmarks like the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where workers organized with AFSCME Council 36, and Monterey Bay Aquarium workers, who formed a union through AFSCME Council 57 earlier this year. 

Meanwhile, in New England, Dartmouth College Library workers became the latest to join a growing legion of library workers who have successfully organized at higher education institutions. The group formed their union through AFSCME Council 93, which also represents library workers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Massachusetts Library system. They joined AFSCME library and museum workers at Harvard, Princeton, Howard, the University of Maryland, and scores of higher education institutions across the country. 

Many of these new unions have since ratified their first union contracts, which include gains such as significant wage increases, unprecedented contract and longevity bonuses, compensation for bilingual employees, improved job advancement and training opportunities, paid parental leave, and benefits that also cover part-time employees. 

And even as the cultural sector faces relentless attacks from the current administration, AFSCME CWU is fighting back. That’s why AFSCME filed a lawsuit with the American Library Association to stop the administration from shutting the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences and protect funding for our cultural institutions. This case is making its way through the legal system.

 

Here are reflections of some cultural workers who have gained a voice through CWU: