Art Institute of Chicago workers' union pushes back against museum's pending custodial contract

First publishedJul 30, 23:00 UTC

Last updatedJul 31, 23:02 UTC · 4h ago

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Chicago Sun-Times6Art Institute of Chicago workers' union pushes back against museum's pending custodial contractJul 30, 23:00 UTCOpen ↗

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<p>As thousands of Lollapalooza fans descended upon Grant Park on Thursday afternoon, members of the Art Institute of Chicago Workers United handed out bilingual fliers to them that read: “Give AIC custodians their jobs back.”</p><p>Last month, the Art Institute of Chicago <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/museums-zoos/2026/07/22/art-institute-of-chicago-backlash-outsource-custodial-staff-afscme-union-museum-labor" >decided to outsource the jobs</a> of approximately 23 custodial workers starting Aug. 15, and the museum has faced strong backlash over the move.</p><p>“We're out here to say it's not fair,” said Cameron Day, staff representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the union’s bargaining unit. “We want to have a conversation. Let's keep these workers in-house here at the Art Institute of Chicago.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center> <div class="Enhancement-item" data-crop=""> <figure class="Figure"><a class="AnchorLink" id="image-f30000" name="image-f30000"></a> <picture data-crop="medium"> <source type="image/webp" width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8e6b178/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5920x3322+0+0/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F13%2F59%2F3294709045cc82cdd066a49aef51%2Faicaction-260731-9.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c0e1b21/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5920x3322+0+0/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F13%2F59%2F3294709045cc82cdd066a49aef51%2Faicaction-260731-9.jpg 2x" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <source width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9aa5f7f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5920x3322+0+0/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F13%2F59%2F3294709045cc82cdd066a49aef51%2Faicaction-260731-9.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <img class="Image" alt="Cameron Day, staff representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31" srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9aa5f7f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5920x3322+0+0/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F13%2F59%2F3294709045cc82cdd066a49aef51%2Faicaction-260731-9.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ae57159/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5920x3322+0+0/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F13%2F59%2F3294709045cc82cdd066a49aef51%2Faicaction-260731-9.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275" data-src="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9aa5f7f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5920x3322+0+0/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F13%2F59%2F3294709045cc82cdd066a49aef51%2Faicaction-260731-9.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" > </picture> <div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Cameron Day, staff representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times</p></div></div> </figure> </div> </div><p>A dozen or so members of the workers’ union distributed leaflets about an hour before leadership from the Art Institute of Chicago Workers United sat down with the museum’s human resources department for their first bargaining session.</p><p>“We made the decision to shift our custodial services to a contractor model to better support daily museum operations, and we prioritized choosing a partner that would commit to offering employment to our custodial staff,” the Art Institute of Chicago said in a statement.

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  Art Institute of Chicago workers' union pushes back against museum's pending custodial contract

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  Chicago Sun-TimesJul 30, 23:00

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