Architects latest among white-collar workers to confront bosses

For years, architects have shared a position with doctors and lawyers for being revered professionals. For good reason, architects spend years in schooling and training, passing grueling license exams, perfecting their craft and putting in long hours in offices. But the one key difference between architects and other jobs is the pay. According to the American Institute of Architects, even in large prominent firms, very few architects make more than $200,000 a year. Most architects barely earn in six figures, if that, a decade or more into their careers. 

The employees of a well-regarded firm SHoP Architects said on Tuesday that they are seeking to change the system of long hours for average pay by taking a step that has never been heard of in their field. Their solution is to unionize. The organizers are SHoP has about 135 employees and is known for its work on the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and a luxury building Steinway tower said that well over half of their eligible colleagues had signed cards pledging support for the union. 

They plan to affiliate themselves with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and are asking for voluntary recognition. This would be the only union at a prominent private-sector architecture firm in the US. The union backers at the firm call themselves the Architectural Workers United and said, "Many of us feel pushed to the limits of our productivity and mental health. SHoP is the firm that can begin to enact changes that will eventually ensure a more healthy and equitable future.”

Source: The New York Times