Union organizing at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe is no longer just background noise. Staff and labor organizers are ramping up a push for formal representation, and they say the effort will keep growing even as garden leadership and county officials argue over how, exactly, a union should be recognized.
Organizing Grows
Employees across horticulture, landscaping, education, and public programs are organizing with the Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United and publicly launched a union card campaign this summer. Organizing director Matt Muchowski said workers are "fired up" and are keeping the outreach going through the winter. These developments were detailed by The Record.
Cook County Steps In
County leaders moved into the middle of the fight in October, then again at a Nov. 18 press conference where Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle publicly backed the organizing effort and the board supported a resolution urging the Garden to accept card-check neutrality. Preckwinkle pointed to the roughly 400 staff who keep the visitors’ experience running and said they deserve respect and the right to organize. As reported by Daily Herald.
Allegations Of Retaliation
Union organizers say the campaign has already sparked tension. Kai Shin, a former facilities assistant with the Garden's Windy City Harvest program, told organizers he was fired a week after speaking at an October Forest Preserve board meeting. Shin and other workers alleged that multiple Windy City Harvest staff lost jobs over the summer and that his duties were reduced after he raised concerns. Shin said, "This kind of retaliation makes it clear what the Garden's response is to the legislation of our elected officials." The Record also reviewed a letter signed by 27 workers that organizers say went unanswered.
The Garden's Position
Chicago Botanic Garden leadership has pushed back, saying in a letter that the organization would not terminate any employee for supporting or opposing union activity and that it favors a secret-ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board rather than voluntary card-check recognition. Public relations manager Julie McCaffrey told reporters that “neutrality” would require the Garden to remain silent, and that the institution values open, direct communication with staff. As covered by the Daily Herald, the Garden also noted that it uses union labor for outsourced construction work.
What Comes Next
Organizers say their next step is to secure majority support through signed authorization cards, then either seek voluntary recognition from the Garden or pursue an NLRB-supervised election if card-check neutrality is rejected. Card-check recognition is a voluntary process in which an employer agrees to recognize a union after a neutral third party verifies that a majority of workers have signed cards. A secret ballot is a formal election administered by the National Labor Relations Board. For a plain-English primer on the differences between these pathways, see Teamsters.
