We have a union!

Today, October 8th, MOHAI workers at the museum and resource center voted to decide whether they want CWA 7800 to be their exclusive bargaining representative.

The results are in and we are excited to report that non-professional staff voted yes to join MOHAI Workers United CWA 7800 with yes-no votes tallying 16-1.

Unfortunately, the “professional staff” votes were tied 2-2, meaning we did not have the majority needed for inclusion in MWU.

Our election results will become official once our union is certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). We expect this certification to arrive in a matter of days.

In the weeks since requesting voluntary recognition, senior leadership has chosen to use fear, disinformation, and bureaucratic delays in an attempt to break apart the unit and erode our internal support. This is union busting behavior, and as we head into this next chapter together it will be essential for senior leadership to redirect their efforts towards serving MOHAIs mission and bargaining with workers in good faith.

Additionally, if MOHAI had not pushed for separating out professionals from non-professional staff this would have been a clear victory for all workers. This intentional division of staff is reflective of the culture cultivated by senior leadership and indicative of the disrespect that led us to organize. We feel that the distinctions they drew between professional and non-professional staff were not consistently applied and do not reflect the high level of expertise and training of “non-professional” workers at MOHAI. We feel deeply for our co-workers who wanted to be included in the union, and will continue to fight for their inclusion.

Our goal is to make MOHAI a place where people want to work, where people feel safe to share ideas, seek and accept feedback, celebrate experimentation, and that fosters meaningful connection between the museum and its community.

We are eager to begin bargaining for our first contract which will lay down the foundation for better working conditions at MOHAI, not only for ourselves but for all of our colleagues, and for MOHAI workers in the years to come.

We could not have done this without the incredible support from our community near and far. Thank you to everyone who has shared their wisdom with us as we learned how to build a union from the ground up. Thank you to the visitors, community partners, and co-workers past and present who make our jobs worth it. Thank you to the friends and loved ones who have supported us in doing the work it has taken us to get here. Thank you everyone who has rallied behind us since going public.

Establishing a union for a majority of rank-and-file workers at MOHAI is an amazing step forward! Congratulations to all on all of the hard work and bravery that has gotten us here! Our victory is a testament to the power of working together in solidarity towards a common goal.