Chicago History Museum workers ratify first union contract after NLRB findings

Union vote follows NLRB complaint alleging retaliation

Workers at the Chicago History Museum have ratified their first union contract, marking a significant development for labor organizing in the city's cultural institutions. The agreement, approved by an overwhelming majority of union members, arrives after the National Labor Relations Board found that the museum’s previous leadership had retaliated against staff who voted to unionize in 2025.

The union representing the museum employees, AFSCME Council 31, said the contract was ratified by 96% of members and contains across-the-board pay increases and expanded paid leave for all staff. The museum, a Lincoln Park institution that draws roughly 150,000 visitors annually, will also move forward under new leadership following the departure of its former president.

• Contract ratified by 96% of the union membership
• Museum annual attendance: about 150,000
• Former museum president Donald Lassere left his role in January

Allegations, departures and a settlement

The NLRB issued a rare formal complaint in May alleging that under former president Donald Lassere, management retaliated against employees after they voted to unionize in 2025. According to the NLRB, four employees were fired and others were disciplined or threatened with termination. The board found that the museum violated federal labor laws.

Donald Lassere exited the post in January after nearly five years leading the institution. In July, the museum named Michael J. Anderson as his successor. Anderson told WBEZ that the museum extended offers to the four ousted employees to return as part of resolving the NLRB complaint and that management was committed to negotiating in good faith with the union.

“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.”

Part of a broader wave of organizing across Chicago’s cultural sector

The Chicago History Museum employees join a growing list of cultural workers in the city who have organized with AFSCME Council 31. In recent years, staff at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum and the Newberry Library have also joined the same union, reshaping labor relations across major local institutions.

The contract at the history museum is likely to be watched closely by other cultural-sector workers and by museum leadership across the region. AFSCME framed the agreement as part of a wider effort to raise standards in a sector that labor leaders say has long taken its workforce for granted.

What’s next for the museum and its staff

While the public details of the contract include pay increases and improved paid leave, museum officials have not released the full agreement text. The museum’s exhibitions schedule continues: this fall the institution plans to open “Threads of a Nation: Preserving Presidential Clothing,” featuring garments associated with presidents including George Washington, John Adams and Abraham Lincoln, drawn from the museum’s costume collection.

The settlement offers to reinstate the four workers who had been dismissed will be an important step toward repairing relationships between staff and management, labor leaders say. How quickly those offers are accepted and implemented will affect staffing and operations ahead of the fall exhibition season.

The contract’s ratification represents both a local victory for labor advocates and a potential turning point for workplace standards at Chicago cultural institutions. As the museum moves forward under new leadership, the terms of this agreement could influence negotiations and labor relations across the city’s arts and culture sector.