A union is a group of workers who come together to make real change in their workplace regarding their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Unions are legally protected under the National Labor Relations Act and employers may not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. We—staff from across the museum and school—comprise our unions. We decide what priorities to negotiate, and elect our own leadership to uphold and enforce the terms of our contract.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has rules that prohibit those who are truly managers, supervisors, and confidential employees from being included in our union. Under labor law, such categories are narrowly defined and are not determined by your title.

• Managers are generally top-level decision or policy makers for the organization and have substantial independent budgetary authority.

• Supervisors have independent authority to hire, fire, discipline, grant time off, promote and determine job descriptions for other employees.  Supervision of outside vendors, independent contractors or student interns generally does not count as supervisory authority, and departments/offices where S/AIC claims multiple levels of employees are “supervisory” will be looked at closely by the Labor Board.

• Confidential employees have access to management’s confidential position in labor-relations matters, such as negotiations. It does not refer to access to other types of confidential information, e.g., details about S/AIC members or donors.

There is a full list of positions excluded from our bargaining unit included at the end of our contract. A general rule of thumb is that no one in our union is responsible for disciplining or paying anyone else.

AICWU is composed of three bargaining units: museum staff, school staff, and non-tenure-track faculty. Although we stand together in solidarity, we each have an independent contract, constitution, stewards, and elected executive board officers. Each bargaining unit is responsible for best representing the needs of their members, but we're stronger together and will continue to work together and advocate for each other.

Although we are a wall-to-wall unit and all eligible positions are automatically in AICWU, signing a card allows you to have a say in how our union is run. When you sign a card, you can run for office, put forth motions for discussion, and vote on issues that affect our union, like future contracts, our constitution, or officer elections (president, vice president, treasurer, etc.). More voting members means a stronger union and better contract for all.

Our union is affiliated with AFSCME Council 31. In Illinois, AFSCME represents more than 90,000 active and retired employees of state, county, and city governments; state universities; local school districts; and nonprofit agencies. AFSCME is the leading union for representing museum professionals nationally and covers workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), the Museum of Tolerance, Milwaukee Public Museum, and other cultural institutions. Recently, employees at MOCA, PMA, and Walker Art Center all won representation with AFSCME. 

Because of our collaboration with AFSCME, several other cultural institutions in Chicago are now unionized with them. These include Chicago Public Library Employees, Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Field Museum. In being part of the AFSCME community, we are connected in solidarity to our union siblings across the city, state, and country. 

Learn more at www.culturalworkersunited.org.

A strike or coordinated work stoppage is a tool of last resort. During the term of our contract, we cannot authorize a strike for economic reasons. We could, however, authorize a strike for health and safety reasons if necessary. Most strikes occur when a union’s contract ends and a new contract is still being negotiated. However, fewer than 2% of contract negotiations result in a strike, and there are many ways we can make our voices heard before striking. Only a majority vote from our members can authorize a strike.

At the end of our first contract negotiation, our bargaining team created a strike fund to be used in the event of a work stoppage to help AICWU members in economic hardship. These funds are being held in an independent account.

We won a lot of important things in our contract, such as a Special Joint Compensation Committee that will continue to address issues in base pay inequity, discrepancies in pay for a job title, and pay not being a fair market value for similar jobs at other museums and schools. We also won a quarterly Labor/Management meeting where representatives from the school and the museum will meet with management to work through non-pay related issues raised by members. Having both of these committees in our contract means management is legally obligated to come to those meetings in good faith to resolve our issues and we can hold them accountable to actions, not just words.

You can read the full contract for School Staff here.

You can read the full contract for Museum Staff here.

You can read the full contract for NTT Faculty here.

Yes! Discussing your pay is a protected right under the National Labor Relations Act and employers cannot retaliate or prohibit you.

If an employee gets called into a meeting that could result in discipline, they can invoke their rights to Weingarten representation and request to have a union steward present. Please reach out to our staff rep, Cameron Day (CDay@afscme31.org) or a union steward (aicwu.stewards@gmail.com) if you or a colleague is facing discipline.

You can learn more about Weingarten rights and find a full list of our union stewards here.

Your first point of contact with the union should be your MAT leader. They can answer many questions and connect you with the right resources. You can also always attend our monthly Membership Meetings, which are an open forum for members to discuss union activities and are held online. If you need to access a more specific resource, here is a list below:

• To ask general questions about AICWU or your rights: email info@aicwu.org or DM us on Instagram (@aic_wu).

• To invoke your Weingarten Rights or find out more about the grievance process: Reach out directly to the Stewards by email (aicwu.stewards@gmail.com).

• To anonymously submit a topic for Labor/Management Meetings, you can use this form. (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdL9EKOvFruz-608bPK6WTj5bKepEkCFc9WW8xgwm0y3LuvUQ/viewform)

• To email a member of the Executive Board, find their contact info here (x)

• To contact our AFSCME staff rep about legal or contract questions: email Cameron Day (CDay@afscme31.org).

Our union is a commitment to working together to improve our workplace. You are not alone in your struggle!

You should be receiving emails from AICWU leadership, either to your work or personal email. If you are not, or you have a preference between your work or your personal account, contact your MAT leader or info@aicwu.org.You can also follow @aic_wu on Instagram for general updates from all three bargaining units.