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Employees at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago are unionizing over their working conditions, claiming their benefits have been cut and workloads are increasing just four months after the center opened in June.
Workers circulated a letter to staff Wednesday announcing their intent to unionize, complaining about “increasing” workloads “vague responses” from administrators to a list of complaints they’d raised, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
Some of the complaints suggested that the $900 million presidential center could already be facing financial trouble.
Such complaints have led to a “high turnover rate,” with exiting employees “taking with them their institutional knowledge and expertise.”
Just how vital those four months of “institutional knowledge” was remains unclear, but the letter cited recent halting of raises and promotions, an increase in their healthcare costs and a reduction of paid time off as being chief among their woes.
And the unionizers included an ace-in-the-hole: President Obama’s own glowing words endorsing unions in 2016.
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“If I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union. If I saw a problem in my workplace, I’d organize my coworkers to do something about it,” the letter quoted Obama.
The Obama Foundation, which financed construction of the library, had $1.1 million in assets last year — but revenue fell from $210 million in 2024 to $159 million, according to tax documents.
