A request for certification (RC) petition was filed today by employees of Studio V Architecture (SVA), a New York City office, with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The bargaining unit’s goal is to form a union.
The bargaining unit at Studio V is collaborating with Architectural Workers United (AWU), an affiliate of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Members of the bargaining unit AN spoke with for this story asked to remain anonymous.
The bargaining currently has a “super majority,” meaning most of the office is in favor of forming a union. Now that the RC petition has been filed with the NLRB, “we have requested that the employer remain neutral, and we hope that they do,” a bargaining unit member said.
“Many architectural workers are unable to achieve a reasonable work-life balance” and “feel compelled by their work ethic to provide uncompensated overtime labor, and lack the power to negotiate benefits,” an employee said, when asked about the reason for starting a union.
Unionizing employees at Studio V first and foremost want to “claim our legal right to collectively bargain,” the employee continued, “so it doesn’t fall upon individuals, but reflects the collective will of the group. This ultimately yields greater transparency and democracy in the workplace.”
David DiMaria, an organizer with the machinists, told AN the NLRB vote will likely take place between mid to late May. If the NLRB votes in favor of the union then the collective bargaining agreement process can begin. This is now the fourth major union drive at a private architecture office in the U.S. since 2022.
“Longstanding Industry Issues”
Studio V Architecture was founded in 2006 by Jay Valgora. The New York City office has a dozen employees and touts a long list of residential, institutional, commercial, civic, and urban design projects in its portfolio. AN emailed Valgora for comment.
The bargaining unit at Studio V cited “longstanding industry issues” as to why employees began discussing unionization. “Many of us have been at SVA for several years,” an employee said. “We developed camaraderie and bonded by fire working on projects. We started talking informally about a union a year ago.”
On March 20, some members of the union handed management at Studio V a letter asking for a card check neutrality agreement—a contract where employers sign a pledge to remain neutral during the unionization process.
Management at Studio V did not grant the request for card check neutrality. A handful of conversations ensued between management and the bargaining unit that ultimately weren’t fruitful, culminating in today’s filing of the RC petition.
The long term goal is to achieve better “work-life balance” and caps on overtime, and power to negotiate benefits and salary increases. Employees also want to set “a minimum wage for all roles, so there’s a standard of wage throughout” the office. This is “a common issue between workers of similar seniority and experience level.”
“There are structural issues in every office. With this campaign, the goal as much as anything else is to uplift the profession in general,” a bargaining unit member said. Forming a union “is the most viable path to effect change, especially for new graduates—people who just entered the workforce with tons of debt.”
The union drive announcement out of Studio V Architecture comes not long after the collective bargaining agreement at Sage and Coombe Architects, another New York City office, went into effect after unanimous ratification, as reported by AN.
Sage and Coombe Architects and Bernheimer Architecture, a Brooklyn firm, are both unionized. Should the NLRB vote in the bargaining unit’s favor, Studio V will become the third private architecture in the U.S. to successfully unionize.
A court case over alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act by Snøhetta after a failed union drive in 2023 remains ongoing.
