“We’re really just trying to make the museum a better place,” said Margy LaFreniere of Museum of Science and Industry Workers United, which AFSCME says will now represent about 140 employees.
In a statement, the Museum of Science and Industry said: “We respect an employee’s right to choose or decline union representation … Our priority is to continue building our positive workplace culture that supports the Museum of Science and Industry and benefits the greater Chicago community.” “The values that we had were very aspirational — we were not living them, whereas management seemed to come from a place where they thought this was a reality,” Rivera said.
In a statement, the Art Institute says it “deeply values” its employees and wants to meet their needs: “We are pleased with the progress we have made, have agreement on nearly all non-economic provisions, and are having productive discussions around an economic proposal. We are optimistic we can reach an equitable agreement.”