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.
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 and unionization has been an ongoing topic on Archinect. Having followed the relentless efforts of employees from SHoP and the success of workers unionizing at Bernheimer Architecture and architectural workers in the UK, it's to be noted, according to Scheiber, "the machinists, the union that's supported the organizing campaign, has been in talks with workers at a number of other architecture firms in NYC. So we could still see another election in the industry.
In a continued effort to provide information and motivation, Architectural Workers United posted this update to their Instagram account, recognizing the efforts and support of those involved. Providing additional context to the developing story the AWU shared:
"The first is that it was not a decisive defeat. The margin was incredibly close, and just a few votes swung the result. This is important, because while we did not announce it previously, the workers filed for an election with 70% of eligible bargaining unit members having signed union authorization cards in support of a union."
According to the AWU, Snøhetta's management team hired the anti-union law firm Stinson LLP to assist in putting a halt to unionization efforts.
Stay tuned for more updates on unionization efforts across the industry. The continued fight for fair and just working conditions for architecture workers persists. Be sure to read previous Archinect coverage on topics like unionization and fair labor below:
13 Comments
Curious what the breakdown in vote betwee American and international workers are - anyone who is relying on Snohetta management to sponsor their H1B or Green Cards would probably have their own non-salary interests in mind, thereby creating a divide in the office.
How many US employees does Snohetta have? 64 tallied votes doesn't seem very substantial with multiple offices in play.
Seems like they should have 100+. Maybe none of the international workers voted.
70% union card rate is not good enough tbh, 80% at minimum is needed to ensure the best chances at a vote. There is severe attrition between calling for a vote and the actual vote with all the heavy anti-union busting.
these starchitecture firms are also probably not the best target at this time; they're too brainwashed into thinking they're extra special. maybe once there's more density, employees at this firm will feel the real benefits they're missing out on compared to unionized shops. it's obvious in other industries, but will take some time in architecture.
Snohetta may not have been the worst choice. The info from this Arch Newspaper piece implies unionized architects in Norway are common place, but it doesn't give hard statistics.
Workers at Snøhetta side against unionization (archpaper.com)
"While unionization in the architecture industry is almost non-existent in the U.S., in Norway over 5,700 architects, landscape architects, interior architects, designers, and planners are members of the Norwegian Union of Architects, which was founded in 1911."
good point. but workers in the us have a very different mentality than workers in europe - while what you say is very rational, often this subject is approached irrationally.
I agree - and to your point, Scandinavia is very different from the rest of Europe too.
There may or may not be any cross-cultural exchange between the Snohetta mothership and satellite offices, but where is the "union busting" pressure coming from? The principals or directors of the US based offices based on a regional perspective or other outside pressures?
Snohetta management hired Stinson LLP, who specialize in "labor law" so I guess the anti-union propaganda and threats worked.
Wow, interesting.
Uuuhhh.... the way this vote was conducted and reported completely outed the SF individual's voting record, when this is supposed to be anonymous?
That seems really dirty - and seems likely to foster discontent in some way.
yes, that's the biggest problem here.
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