Archinect - News

Snøhetta's U.S. office votes to not unionize

2023-07-07T16:40:00-04:00

With much anticipation, voting results for Snøhetta's U.S. employees and their fight for a union have come to a decision. After following Snøhetta's journey towards unionizing back in May and June of 2023, their efforts have fallen short.

Thanks to active report updates from New York Times labor reporter Noam Scheiber, final voting counts from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) resulted in a 35–29 final vote count against unionizing.

Image via @noamscheiber's Twitter account.

As reported merely a little over an hour ago (around 11:50 am PST), the possibility of things taking a turn for the better was mentioned after Scheiber reported the NLRB did not count 6 ballots from Snøhetta's San Francisco office. Prior to the most recent count update, the voting results posted earlier this morning reflected a 29–28 vote. However, after the remaining San Francisco ballots were taken into account, the results still remained unsuccessful.

The topic of fair labor within architecture firms a...

Belgium approves four-day workweek and other worker protection measures

2022-02-16T15:29:00-05:00

Workers in Belgium will soon be able to choose a four-day week under a series of labour market reforms announced on Tuesday. The reform package agreed by the country's multi-party coalition government will also give workers the right to turn off work devices and ignore work-related messages after hours without fear of reprisal.

Belgium’s new labor reforms aim to improve the work-life balance of employees in both the public and private sectors. Workers in the gig economy will receive stronger legal protections and full-time employees will be able to work more flexible schedules. As reported by Euronews, employees will be able to request to work four days a week for a period of six months. Following this, they could choose to continue the arrangement of return to a five-day week.

Previously on Archinect: Revisiting the 4-day work week in architecture

In Belgium’s new model, the 38-hour working week would be condensed into four days, with the additional day off compensating for the longer workdays. In addition, workers will be able to request variable work schedules, and companies will be required to provide work schedules at least seven days in advance. The draft legislation must now pass multiple readings by federal lawmakers before being enacted.

Architectural workers in the UK have formed a union

2019-10-30T16:03:00-04:00

United Voices of the World (UVW) will support the Section of Architectural Workers (UVW-SAW), as the new union is named, with free in-house legal advice, employment law and organiser training, skill-sharing, workplace representation and negotiation, as well as cross-sector experience and campaigns. Membership is between £6 and £10 per month, depending on income.

“We’re open to everyone involved in the production of architecture,” Jake, a UVW union member, tells The Guardian’s Oliver Wainwright, “from the model-maker to the office cleaner and admin staff, everyone should be united under the same umbrella.”

Jake added, “Employers will say that they can only afford to pay low wages because of the low fees they’re getting. But the reason they can take on that work at such a low rate is because they’re exploiting their workforce. If the workforce was unionised, then it would raise the value of architectural labour overall.”

Workers' rights for graduate students take a step backward under proposed rules

2019-09-23T15:15:00-04:00

Graduate teaching assistants and other student workers at private universities and colleges wouldn’t qualify for federal protections that grant most private-sector workers the right to form or join a union under a new regulatory proposal. Students who receive compensation for teaching or conducting research “in connection with their studies” wouldn’t be considered employees, who have the right to unionize and are protected from various unfair labor practices

The move, supported by three of President Donald Trump's appointees to the National Labor Relations Board, would deal a setback to graduate teaching assistant unionization efforts, though, according to Bloomberg Law, existing contracts between universities and student employee unions would not be impacted.

Is the AIA doing enough to address sexual harassment in architecture?

2019-08-06T14:05:00-04:00

Post-Meier, the AIA has centered its efforts to stop sexual harassment by affirming good behavior in the profession. It’s using positive reinforcement to address sexual harassment and discrimination by saying the best work emerges from firms that embody equitable practices, and using that as the foundation of its strategy to incentivize better behavior.

Curbed's Diana Budds takes a deep dive into the efforts being undertaken within the architecture community to eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

According to the report, although the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has worked to update its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, the organization has largely avoided taking punitive measures in their efforts to reform the profession's workplace culture. The report brings into question the effectiveness of AIA's current role in addressing delicate and difficult issues like workplace harassment, and whether architectural workers might be better served through the existence of a more official "secondary avenues" for reporting harassment, abuse, and other ethics issues.

The reactive approach, according to Gabrielle Bullock, director of global diversity at Perkins and Will and a member of the AIA’s Equity in Architecture commission, is to be expected. Bullock told Curbed, “The AIA is g...

Can the 4-Day Workweek Become a Thing?

2019-08-05T20:24:00-04:00

In organizations in which a shorter workweek has been implemented, nearly two-thirds (64%) of leaders reported increases in staff productivity and work quality due to a reduction of sick days and overall increased well-being. Another benefit to well-being, respondents noted, was the reduction of commutes. One less day at work helps make the weekly commute more bearable.

Alternative work schedules have been a topic of discussion for quite some time now, especially in European countries. Could this model work well in the architecture industry? Looking to other industries may provide some insights.

"In organizations in which a shorter workweek has been implemented, nearly two-thirds (64%) of leaders reported increases in staff productivity and work quality due to a reduction of sick days and overall increased well-being. Another benefit to well-being...was the reduction of commutes," write Ben Laker and Thomas Roulet, both organizational business leaders.

While the benefits are broad, the setbacks are also. Leaders have brought up concerns with this new approach with aspects like, "regulations regarding work contracts, and the associated bureaucracy to implement the four-day week, as well as challenges around staffing." This coupled with the fact that some workers expressed concern "regarding the way they will be seen by their peers and superiors" fo...