The UK’s Section of Architectural Workers (SAW) has announced its affiliation with Unite, one of the UK’s most influential trade union groups. The move will see SAW operate under the same union group as the UK’s wider construction sector.

When it was established in 2019, SAW was affiliated with the United Voices of the World (UVW) union, hence its original name, UVW-SAW. Recently, SAW was one of several groups that publicly supported Muyiwa Oki’s successful campaign for RIBA president.

Following the latest announcement, SAW is now a national branch of Unite, the second-largest UK trade union by numbers with over 1.4 million members. The union also has strong links with the UK’s Labour Party, which is widely expected to enter government following the UK’s upcoming 2024 General Election.

Unlike in the US, architecture workers in the UK do not need to form an internal union group within their firm, and instead join an industry-wide trade union such as Unite.

“This is an incredibly exciting moment for SAW and the architectural labour movement generally,” said SAW in a statement following news of the Unite affiliation. “By affiliating to Unite, the UK’s leading union, architectural workers are now even better equipped to fight against the workplace mistreatment they so regularly face.”

The news comes weeks after New York-based Sage and Coombe Architects employees declared the formation of a union. Meanwhile, August saw Architectural Workers United charge Snøhetta with unfair labor practices following a recent unsuccessful union push.

You can read more about the architecture unionization landscape in the US by reading our in-depth feature article on the subject here.