The first and only formal architecture union in the American private sector was just formed by Bernheimer Architecture's employees after two years of the union campaign. The Union aims to reframe the discipline and profession and create an established sector of better labor rights standards and work conditions. The BA Union will be associated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to reshape the industry at a large scale and work on Industrywide problems like long hours and low pay.
After years of inactivity, the post-pandemic era is witnessing the resurgence of the union movement caused by two intense years of instability, challenging working conditions, and fresh graduates entering the workforce with a different attitude to those even 10 years ago. Few corners of the American industry seem resistant to this refreshed union drive, even the Coffee giant Starbucks and Amazon are unionizing, and architecture is not an exemption. New York firm SHoP Architects is the first prominent union-organized effort in the United States' architectural profession in 75 years. Despite withdrawing the union proposal in January 2022, following a reduction in worker support, SHoP is a precedent for the BA Union and the architecture industry desperately lacking better work conditions.
According to the American Institutes of Architects, the wage gap between architecture and other high-skill professions can be up to double, despite the education and licensing required for the field. Based on the AIA research during the pandemic, “architect compensation increased 0.3 percent per year, while all professional compensation increased 2.4 percent annually, and 3.1 percent for all private workers”. Andrew Bernheimer, Bernheimer Architecture firm’s principal and an associate professor at the Parsons School of Design, pointed out that “architecture is a discipline and profession that has a legacy of exploitation”.
Although architecture unions are uncharted territory, efforts from different ends as The Architectural Workers United, are seeking to facilitate the unionization of architecture firms. Union supporters claim that unionizing can guide architects to lobby local governments to establish industrywide standards for compensation and working time. On the other hand, skeptics of the union campaign argue that nonunion firms with lower labor costs might rival and make them lose business.
“Working together, we can uplift the profession and industry in ways that we could not by acting alone”- Bernheimer Architecture Union
BA studio is a 22-person firm that has chosen to recognize the union voluntarily, contrary to the normal secret ballot election. The studio has been recognized as a progressive office at the forefront of design, craft, and quality, affordable housing in the USA. “Though we are stepping into uncharted territory in many ways, we are overwhelmingly excited, and hopeful, to bolster the values that make BA special”, Andrew Bernheimer pointed out.
Info via the New York Times.
