Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Chicago History Museum Workers Ratify First Contract

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

After facing intense anti-union retaliation from management, AFSCME Council 31 members at the Chicago History Museum have ratified their first collective bargaining agreement.

Workers voted to form a union in 2025, and in the days following the election, the museum’s head of human resources threatened all museum employees with termination, disciplined four and fired four others. The severity of the retaliation led to the National Labor Relations Board issuing a rare formal complaint against the institution’s previous president for violating labor law. But workers stood strong and have now secured a contract with across-the-board raises and improved paid leave.

“Chicago History Museum employees are an inspiration,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said in a statement. “Facing some of the worst anti-union retaliation we’ve seen, they stood strong together and prevailed. Together in AFSCME, Chicago cultural workers are winning real gains and raising standards across a sector that long took them for granted.”