Workers at the Obama Foundation and the Obama Presidential Center gathered outside the Chicago campus starting at 7 a.m. Wednesday, handing out buttons, stickers and copies of an open letter announcing their push to unionize with AFSCME Council 31. More than 250 remote and in-person employees across Chicago, Washington, D.C. and other locations are organizing under the banner Obama Workers United, citing increasing workloads and benefit rollbacks since the center opened to the public in June.
The open letter, signed by 68 workers, was distributed to colleagues Wednesday and lays out a list of grievances: no pay increases this winter, rising healthcare costs, reduced paid time off and suspended promotions, according to WBEZ Chicago. Workers say foundation leadership has offered only vague responses to their concerns, and that the organization's high turnover rate means departing employees are taking institutional knowledge with them, though the union told the station it did not have a count of how many employees have left since the center opened.
Luke Gilday, an Obama Foundation employee based in Washington, D.C. and a member of the union organizing committee, said there is no timeline yet for securing a contract and that the immediate focus is building momentum. “We don't even have a seat at the table,” Gilday said, describing workers as having been left out of conversations about benefits, pay and insurance. He said forming the union follows what he called the Obama legacy of hope, fairness and transparency, and that workers are organizing to have a say in decisions affecting their lives.
Quoting Obama's Own Words Back to His Foundation
The organizing committee's open letter quotes Barack Obama's 2016 open letter to working men and women, in which he said he would join a union himself if he were seeking a good job that provides family security, and that workers should organize their coworkers to address workplace problems. The union says the employees forming Obama Workers United, who include museum greeters, ticket takers, exhibit staff, development staff, communications staff and marketing staff, care deeply about the foundation's mission even as they press for a formal voice on compensation and workplace conditions.
Anders Lindall, director of public affairs for AFSCME Council 31, said the organizing committee is circulating union cards, getting them signed and talking with coworkers across the foundation's various offices. The union has not yet defined specific bargaining proposals, and workers say they are focused above all on healthcare costs, wages and time off. Employees also say they oppose the foundation spending resources on anti-union messaging, anti-union lawyers or anti-union meetings as the campaign moves forward.
Foundation Says It Welcomes Organizing Rights
An Obama Foundation spokesperson said the organization is committed to workers' right to organize and to make their voices heard, and that it approaches union representation discussions with gratitude for staff contributions, respect for unions and a commitment to collaboration with labor partners. AFSCME said it expects no resistance or interference from the foundation as the drive proceeds, while workers are seeking voluntary recognition through authorization cards. Questions remain about how bargaining would address a workforce spread across Chicago, Washington and remote locations nationwide, according to AFSCME Council 31.
The relationship between AFSCME and Obama runs deep: the union endorsed then-state Sen. Barack Obama in 2008, breaking with its national parent union to back him in the Democratic presidential primary. The Obama Foundation is led by CEO Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to President Obama who oversees operations across the Presidential Center's 19.3-acre campus at 6001 S. Stony Island Ave. and the foundation's national programs, according to The Washington Post.
Part of a Broader Chicago Museum Organizing Wave
The formation of Obama Workers United follows a major wave of Chicago museum and cultural worker organizing that AFSCME Council 31 has helped lead. Since 2021, nearly 3,000 employees at the Art Institute, Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry and several other institutions formed locals, according to AFSCME Council 31. Nationally, the union's Cultural Workers United campaign now represents more than 50,000 workers at museums, libraries, zoos and cultural institutions, including roughly 2,500 cultural workers in Illinois.
Months later, more than 120 workers at the Museum of Science and Industry approved a first contract after setting a strike deadline, winning immediate 8% to 10% wage increases, 3% annual raises and time-and-a-half holiday pay. Chicago History Museum workers ratified their own first contract in August 2026, following a dispute in which the National Labor Relations Board had filed a complaint alleging former management retaliated against organizing staff by firing four employees, who were later offered reinstatement under new leadership.
A Chicago Public Library branch already operates on the Obama Presidential Center campus, staffed by municipal employees represented by AFSCME Local 1215 since it opened in June 2026 — meaning unionized AFSCME members already work daily inside the facility even before this new organizing drive began. The push also arrives against a backdrop of other scrutiny for the foundation: during construction of the Jackson Park campus, some residents and community activists opposed displacement, and the foundation refused to sign a Community Benefits Agreement; it also set construction hiring goals, according to Nonprofit Quarterly.
