In any future analysis of architectural workplace conditions, the impact of 2022 cannot be understated. Throughout the year, our editorial played host to a wide variety of labor-related developments in the profession, from top-down efforts to improve salary transparency to bottom-up unionization drives across the United States and the world.

Notwithstanding decisions by lawmakers and firm principals to reform laws and business structures, respectively, the seismic shifts in architectural labor conditions were predominantly the results of grassroots efforts. Union groups such as Architectural Workers United and Bernheimer Architecture Union set valuable precedents for workers seeking to collectively organize in the years ahead, while The Architecture Lobby set out a vision for the profession that dispels the employee-employer relationship entirely. 

Beyond the U.S., meanwhile, grassroots groups led to the formation of a union in Portugal, strike action and salary disclosure platforms in the UK, and the first-ever election of an architecture worker to the position of RIBA President.

To further explore these trends, we have set out the key developments and stories throughout 2022 related to topics surrounding labor in architecture.

Unionization and the labor movement

In an early 2022 setback, the SHoP unionization effort collapsed

The group’s petition to the NLRB was withdrawn in February after a decline in support. The union organizers cited a “power anti-union campaign” as a reason for the outcome and said that staff would pursue “alternatives” to address some of the “abusive” workplace conditions that the effort had brought to the fore.

But our feature article showed how events at SHoP were just the beginning

Speaking to a number of contributors, including those involved in the SHoP effort, we explored how unionization would impact employer-employee dynamics, architectural fees, and the design process itself. From our conversations, it became clear that a growing number of architects see unionizing as a pathway to reform a broken business model.

Later in the year, workers at New York’s Bernheimer Architecture formed the first U.S. private-sector architecture union

The worker group, collectively known as BA Union, joined the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) with the support of their director Andrew Bernheimer. While workers at Bernheimer Architecture told The New York Times that they believed their hours and compensation were reasonable by the standards of the industry, they hoped to "start a broader conversation about the profession’s pay and working conditions."

Internationally, Portuguese architecture workers also announced a new union

The group, known as Movimento dos Trabalhadores em Arquitectura (MTA), adopted a constitution and bylaws following its declaration of intent to organize a union back in 2021. The group pledged to build a movement “from the base, with joint reflection, broad participation, and determined collective action.”

While UK architecture workers prepared a historic strike ballot over pay and conditions

The workers of London-based Atomik Architecture made the decision following a dispute over pay and conditions; the first at a UK architecture firm to do so. The group also claimed that management at Atomik responded to the dispute by triggering a redundancy consultation, which could have led to job losses.

UK grassroots groups also helped deliver the first RIBA Presidential Election won by an architecture worker

Muyiwa Oki overcame opposition from two other candidates to become RIBA’s youngest and first Black president. Oki was nominated as a candidate by a grassroots collective, including the Future Architects Front, who sought to elect a “drama-free RIBA president who enacts positive, ethical, and progressive change” and who would address pressing issues, including climate change and labor conditions. Oki set out his ambitious agenda in our Q+A with the candidates before the election.

As the year ended, a union coalition survey painted a stark picture for the future

Released in October, the survey found that two-thirds of respondents would either strongly or somewhat caution others against joining the profession. Many of the survey’s core findings centered on issues of compensation and working hours, with 51% of respondents feeling dissatisfied with their salaries and 55% feeling either dissatisfied or neutral about workplace benefits.

Rethinking how architecture firms are structured

As the labor movement grew, we explored the growing number of firms switching to an employee-ownership model

The three employee-owned firms we spoke to were unanimous in their view that employee ownership has been of significant benefit to their businesses, their output, their clients, and their staff; and is a structure worthy of consideration for their peers.

While also going further to ask if worker cooperatives were the real employee-owned firms

In a follow-up to our employee ownership feature, we heard from Peggy Deamer of The Architecture Lobby, who argued that meaningful worker ownership of an architectural firm goes far beyond the ESOP model of stock and retirement plans. Instead, Deamer called for a fundamental rethink, or even abolition, of the employer-employee dynamic and a move towards worker cooperatives.

Meanwhile, we investigated the deep flaws exposed within the profession at large during the COVID-19 pandemic and where reforms could occur

As the pandemic waned, many questions remained unanswered as to how the crisis had impacted the architectural job market, firm operations, and the design process; questions that deserve scrutiny in the interests of avoiding future economic pain. We heard views from three firms across the U.S. as well as the insights of AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker.

Salaries and transparency

As 2022 began, it emerged that architects in New York City would have to include salary ranges in job postings

Following a six-month delay, the transparency law took effect in November, meaning businesses with four or more employees in the city, including architecture firms, must include salary ranges in job advertisements. The law exempts positions that can’t or won’t be performed in New York City in response to the growing number of remote working positions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Midway through the year, New York State took steps to enact similar requirements

A bill passed both the New York State Assembly and Senate which would require employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings. If signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul, New York would become the latest state to pass wage transparency laws, following similar moves in Colorado, Nevada, Connecticut, Washington, and Maryland.

Across the country, California lawmakers reinforced their own salary transparency laws

The new bill requires an employer with 15 or more employees to include a pay scale in any job posting, and to maintain records of their employees' job titles and wage rate histories. The bill also requires that employers of 15 or more employees use a third party to advertise job postings to provide the pay scale to the third party for publication.

While a survey found that companies were divided over including salaries in job adverts

As the series of salary transparency laws emerged, a survey found that many companies had begun to include salary information in job listings even if not required to do so. Not all companies have embraced the change, with some citing administrative complexity, a lack of clear job architecture, and possible employee reactions as reasons for their reluctance to disclose salary information.

In the UK, one grassroots group took matters into their own hands and launched a platform that published average architecture firm salary lists

The Pay 100 called on architecture workers to submit their salaries to the group, allowing them to ultimately publish a list of the top 100 salary averages of UK practices. The first listings appeared on the site in November, largely consisting of early-career roles.

Don’t forget, you can do the same with our Architecture Salary Poll

You can help us in our continued effort to provide salary insights into architectural practice across the U.S. and worldwide by anonymously responding to the Architecture Salary Poll here. Your participation allows us to further inform our readers on the salary landscape across architecture profession, such as our previous deep dive into the salaries of New York City architects.