Architects at New York firm take steps to unionize

Employees at SHoP Architects are advancing a plan to form a union.

Citing long hours with low pay, organizers at the 135-person SHoP told the New York Times that well over half their eligible colleagues had signed cards supporting the union. The firm’s union would affiliate with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The effort would be the first to successfully form a union at a prominent private-sector architecture firm in the country, according to the Times. The firm did not comment on whether it would recognize the union.

An organizer for the machinists union told the newspaper that he has talked with architects who were in the process of organizing at two other prominent New York firms. The unionizing effort in the design industry may reflect rising interest in unionization among professionals in several other industries.