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. — The Guardian
“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.”
I don't think the main value of a union would be higher wages; for me, the biggest issues in architecture have always been working conditions. I see a union as helpful in ending unpaid internships, ending the expected 60+ hour work weeks, and for the firms that "manage" their staffing by hiring every time a project starts and laying off every time one ends, some union benefits to help the laid-off folks during down times.
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The last thing I want to do is join a union.
Then don't join one?
I would not join. My employment security and compensation is entirely dependant on my skill and experience... not by group consensus.
I'm hesitant on the idea of unions as well, but I don't think it's about abolishing meritocracy.
I'm not sure where I stand on the subject. I've been thinking about writing a blog post about it, but haven't taken the time to organize my thoughts. There have been plenty of previous threads on the subject here on Archinect, and The Architect's Newspaper published an article recently that I thought was a decent look at why the US doesn't have an architects' union from the co-steward of New York's chapter of the pro-union Architecture Lobby.
Yeah, remember that thread. It gave me a hernia. Thanks for the article - that one is new to me.
you are just few of the many practitioners of the profession, I will support this organization as this will put the statement of what can our profession can contribute to the society.
One would think something like the AIA would be one in the same with a union in the US but alas, just another agency that skims off the top of already low wages.
When was the last time the AIA led a strike to protest unfair labor practices?
What did the AIA do to protect interns again wage theft? Or to project architects from unequal pay and sexual harassment?
I'd love if the AIA functioned more like a Union.
"What did the AIA do to protect interns again wage theft?"
They made a website, a few videos, and published some salary survey numbers; https://www.aia.org/pages/2826-know-your-worth
Yes, I'm being facetious
I wonder how many architects trained in the US actually know the history of the labor movement, and know the benefits of having a union.
Also, I would definitely join an architecture union. In a second.
This related article resonates with me: https://failedarchitecture.com/death-to-the-calling-a-job-in-architecture-is-still-a-job/
Last year the Cresent City Pilots Association [river pilots in New Orleans] averaged $595,000.
Can I join that one?
I totally agree that the AIA should be working to protect wages within the profession. I have said this for years.
Just get better at your job, or change offices, if you want a better wage. Simple really.
The idea of unions is to provide the protections that the state should but does not. You live in a country where there are social protections, in the US there is no bottom. I know a woman whose social security is $200, half of which is taken to ‘pay for’ Medicare. Because spending your life raising and caring for a family has no economic value.
You’re correct Miles. Perhaps they should demand better socialist policies from their governments instead of unions.
NS, historically here in the US, it has only been the unions that have ever successfully lobbied governments for better worker protections.
NS, I think you might be onto something. smh
NS, That's the attitude I had until I learned it's a systemic problem. And when you start having a family, stability, etc. "just changing" doesn't seem to be so easy anymore. Side note, your fear of losing your personal sovereignty is palpable.
^So if "just changing" is impossible as you say, then the solution is to simply get better at your job in order to rise in seniority and acquire better responsibilities. If all you can do is grunt work, then you get grunt pay. You don't get more cash for the same work just because you're unable to, or unwilling to, make the change.
I didn't say it was impossible... just much harder when there are other variables in play that is not just yourself.
As for grunt work, I don't disagree with you and I don't think anyone who is pro-union would disagree with that statement either.
Grunt pay should be a living wage, though.
Agreed. What keeps getting me is the assumption that everyone will instantly get higher wages just because they form a union. This completely ignores the reality of the business. There is not an infinite pot of money available in most arch offices to draw from and unless you actively make an effort to increase your billable skills (for example), I just don't see the justification. Grunts get a living wage in my area tho, so maybe I'm just disconnected.
tduds: I agree assuming you define grunt as...for lack of better term... "low-ranking", but I have a feeling NS's idea of grunt = slacker.
^correct on both definitions
"..the assumption that everyone will instantly get higher wages just because they form a union." Who's assuming this? I think it's an oversimplification, to say the least.
It’s in the first sentence on this page. Something about the man only being to pay low wages.
I don't think the main value of a union would be higher wages; for me, the biggest issues in architecture have always been working conditions. I see a union as helpful in ending unpaid internships, ending the expected 60+ hour work weeks, and for the firms that "manage" their staffing by hiring every time a project starts and laying off every time one ends, some union benefits to help the laid-off folks during down times.
Aren't minimum wage laws intended to give everyone a living wage?
Perhaps that was the original intention (I'm not entirely sure ... I kind of doubt it), but it definitely isn't the reality. Google "living wage vs. minimum wage" and read until you satisfy your question.
What fight is easier for the employer to have; the one with the client, or the one with the employee?
If we have the ability to do what the employer can't, then maybe we can have say in the fees.
but.. but.. sillybillyboy said it couldn't be done!
Thought unions have declined since the 1980s with the loss of industry in the United States, I for one since I was in college was calling for a union to protect workers in the architecture industry. Over the years I have never had overtime, I'm 49 I've been working since the " we don't pay interns" days of the early 1990s. Ok AXP was created by NAAB to solve this and look out for interns, but what happens after you are gainfully employed, and your internship is over? You get financial raped at every corner in the business. I whiteness this ugly sea change during the Great deRecession. The genital word of Architecture died in between 2008-2015 as budgets were slashed and work was nonexistent. The only way I barely made it was that I taught at a university. Architecture and the attached building trade are the most fickle industry in the world. One fail step of the economy and it's disaster for architects and interior designers. Something need to protect all of as workers in this profession. All of the trades are commonly unionized, plumbers, electricians, steel workers, and on and on. WHY NOT US? It's about time that after a recession and a pandemic the we do something collectively to help our self's from the next big financial setback that wrecks our industry.
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