Architects Are the Latest White-Collar Workers to Confront Bosses

[Omaha Steve]

Saying they are overworked and underpaid, architects at a prominent New York firm want to unionize. Others could follow.




Architects who are seeking to start a union at SHoP Architects in New York signaled their agreement during a Zoom call last week.

By Noam Scheiber Dec. 21, 2021

For decades, architects have enjoyed a place alongside doctors and lawyers among the professionals most revered by pop culture and future in-laws.

And for good reason. Architects spend years in school learning their craft, pass grueling licensing exams, put in long days at the office.

Still, there is one key difference between architecture and these other vocations: the pay. Even at prominent firms in large cities, few architects make more than $200,000 a year, according to the American Institute of Architects, which advocates for the profession. Most barely earn six figures, if that, a decade or more into their careers.

On Tuesday, employees at the well-regarded firm SHoP Architects said that they were seeking to change the formula of long hours for middling pay by taking a step that is nearly unheard-of in their field. They are seeking to unionize.

FULL story: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/21/business/architects-white-collar-union.html

[empedocles]

1. Long overdue

[dutch777]

2. Will be interesting to see how this goes. Unlike law and medical services, architects are less of a

necessity and increasingly their services are being commodotized in a way that makes value for architecture firms, and therefore the architects they employ, very difficult to monetize profitably. You rarely have lawyers or doctors competing on a cost basis, but architects have to almost constantly.