SAIC adjunct professors, lecturers vote to join AICWU/AFSCME

More than 600 non-tenure-track faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) have voted overwhelmingly to form their union with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

The SAIC adjunct professors and lecturers voted 377 Yes to 33 No (92%) to join Art Institute of Chicago Workers United (AICWU), the AFSCME-affiliated local union formed last year by staff of the school and museum.

Votes were counted Dec. 13 at the National Labor Relations Board regional office in the Dirksen Federal Building in the Loop. Balloting was conducted by mail over the previous several weeks.

“Our colleagues have emphatically said yes to our union,” the SAIC Faculty AICWU Organizing Committee wrote in announcing the news. “Along with the staff at the school and museum, we've achieved an AICWU three-peat that sends a crystal-clear message to our president, provost and board: We know our worth, we know how critical our labor is to our institution, and we know it's time to put it in writing.”

In the coming weeks, the new union members will begin the process of preparing to bargain their first union contract, including electing a bargaining committee to represent them in negotiations, holding listening sessions with their colleagues, and distributing a bargaining survey so everyone can share the issues that matter to them.

“Nothing is more gratifying than helping workers claim their seat at the table,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. “SAIC non-tenure-track faculty are devoted to their students, school and community, and by forming their union will make SAIC better for all.”

AFSCME is the leading union for cultural workers. Its Cultural Workers United campaign is at the forefront of the sector’s organizing wave both locally (including the Art Institute of Chicago, SAIC, the Newberry Library and most recently the Field Museum) and across the country (representing 10,000 museum workers at 100 cultural institutions and more than 25,000 library workers in 275 library systems nationwide).