It’s true what they say. Per the popular chant being heard increasingly on local picket lines, Seattle is a union town—and more and more so every week, it seems.

On Thursday, the overwhelming majority of Seattle Art Museum workers voted to form a labor union, marking the manifestation of a labor campaign that began earlier this year. More than 140 workers voted in favor of establishing Seattle Art Museum Workers United (SAMWU), which will be affiliated with the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE), part of AFSCME Council 28. SAMWU will represent employees across a panoply of SAM’s departments, such as curatorial, marketing, administrative, development, education, and visitor services.

For organizers, the vote represents both a workplace triumph and a reflection of bigger changes within the museum sector. The freshly formed union joins a growing list of organized workforces at cultural institutions. Locally, museum workers at National Nordic Museum and Tacoma Art Museum are both represented by unions—National Nordic Museum Workers United (NNNWU) and Tacoma Art Museum Workers United (TAMWU) respectively. The National Nordic Museum unionized last year. The Tacoma Art Museum unionized in 2022.

Some eligible staff at Henry Art Gallery and The Burke Museum are also union members, via The Union of Academic Student Employees, Postdocs, and Research Staff (UAW 4121), Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE), and SEIU Local 925, the primary labor union representing the University of Washington’s library, press, and museum professional staff.

Last month, SAM workers delivered a letter to museum leadership outlining concerns over wages, benefits, job security, and workplace decision-making, thereby announcing their intent to organize. In the letter, workers wrote: “Our solidarity is a movement to improve working conditions in alignment with SAM’s mission, vision, and core values.”

Through the campaign, SAM workers seek a stronger voice when it comes to improving conditions and shaping workplace policies at the museum. Among the issues expected to be addressed in negotiations are wage increases, healthcare coverage, paid time off, just-cause employment protections, and mechanisms for employee participation in workplace decisions.

The union’s formation follows a broader wave of organizing at museums nationwide. In recent years, employees at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art have voted to unionize, citing many of the same concerns about pay, workplace protections, and employee input.

SAMWU has drawn support from other local labor organizations and workers at other cultural institutions, including TAMWU as well as the United Creatures of the Sea, representing restaurant workers from Sea Creatures Group (The Walrus and the Carpenter, among others). The core of the union’s platform for kicking off collective bargaining is the soaring cost of living in the Seattle area, combined with worker concerns surrounding healthcare benefits and at-will employment. They are also calling for greater transparency in collaborating between workers and SAM management.

Seattle Art Museum workers had previously requested voluntary recognition from museum leadership and indicated they were prepared to pursue a formal election process if necessary. The successful vote now clears the way for the union to seek certification and begin negotiating its first collective bargaining agreement. SAM leadership has not yet announced a timeline for bargaining, but labor advocates say first-contract negotiations will be the next major step in the process.

Operating on a budget of about $42 million per year, SAM is the Pacific Northwest’s largest cultural institution. The campus spans across three locations: the Downtown Seattle flagship, the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in its former SAM facility in Volunteer Park, and the Olympic Sculpture Garden on Elliott Bay. Across all facilities, the full workforce includes 365 employees, along with ten executives and more than 200 volunteers.