Why The Urban Institute Needs a Union
Dear Urban Community,
We write to you as members of the newly formed Urban Institute Employees’ Union. This morning, with support from an overwhelming majority of nonsupervisory staff, we officially requested recognition from Urban’s executive leadership. We have chosen to be represented by the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), which is organized under the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE).
We are not alone. Across the United States, research organizations like Urban are unionizing. In Washington, DC, workers at peer organizations like the Center for American Progress, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Economic Policy Institute have successfully organized with NPEU. Today, we are excited to announce our union alongside a parallel effort by staff at the Brookings Institution. In light of these successes, we believe that collective bargaining will bolster our institute’s mission, advance the interests of all of us at Urban, and provide extra protection to the members of our community who are most vulnerable to unfair treatment.
Organizing a union is a labor of love. Like any major project at Urban, this process has taken a village. Today’s request for recognition comes after over two years of organizing. People from all over the organization — operations, research, and other office staff — have poured countless hours into this effort. We are proud that our union represents the most diverse parts of Urban’s staff and the people whose voices need to be amplified most within the organization. Ultimately, we are forming a union because we care deeply about the work we do and the people with whom we do it.
There’s no getting around it: the primary reason for our union is to address problems in our workplace. These include pay equity, distribution of work assignments, and the discrimination faced by some of our members. We are unionizing because many of our challenges are systemic and institutional. Staff working across supervisors, research centers, and operational offices are experiencing many of the same problems. However, we ultimately see our union effort as a vote of confidence in the Urban Institute. We’ve invested this time and energy because we trust our supervisors will come to the table, listen to our asks, and work with us to make changes.
Urban’s work has taught us that change doesn’t happen overnight. But we recognize that our society is experiencing a historic moment of transformation, where people all over the country are trying to replace unfair systems and ensure that institutions work for everyone. With our union, we will create a better, healthier Urban. We envision an Urban where all staff, including nonsupervisory staff, will be empowered to make distinctive contributions, access resources, and provide feedback. We seek to create an Urban where diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns will be centered and enforced by contract. We recognize there has been significant work done by Urban over the past year to listen to staff, and we see the union as a way to strengthen and add accountability to those existing efforts. Urban’s mission as an organization must be intertwined with its role as an employer. We need a union because we know that in order to promote equity through evidence-based policy, Urban must itself become a more equitable, inclusive workplace.
Urban’s research, along with work done by others, clearly shows how workers benefit from strong labor unions. Wages for unionized people are higher and increase faster over time. Unions have led to more robust pay equity for women, people of color, and people with disabilities. A recent Urban report found that “worker organizations, including unions, can play key roles in solving challenges… because they have the trust of and access to workers, they are uniquely situated to raise collective discrimination complaints.”
We ask that members of the Urban community take this opportunity to demonstrate how much they value the voices of nonsupervisory staff. The vast majority of our bargaining unit has signed on in support of the union. Given the strength of our numbers, and the limited nature of Urban’s flexible funding, we hope that time and money will not be diverted away from research in order to oppose our union. We welcome support and solidarity from our more senior colleagues who feel the same.
The Urban Institute Employees’ Union is honored to be part of the future of fair labor in the United States. We stand in solidarity with workers across the country advocating for their rights. We see the labor movement, and workers more generally, as vital partners in our professional work and as critical voices shaping our research. In forming a union, we look forward to making the Urban Institute a better place to work for all employees, while continuing to elevate sound evidence for social policy.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch:
urbaninstituteunion@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Urban Institute Employees’ Union