Philadelphia – Penn Libraries staff, unionizing as AFSCME DC 47 Local 590 Penn Libraries United, announced this fall the results of their August election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
In the final count, staff have successfully unionized, winning 40 to 27. The new bargaining unit includes around 90 employees in librarian, curator, archivist, developer and other professional titles, joining Local 590’s longtime bargaining unit of Penn Libraries support staff, unionized since 1969.
In winning their union election, Penn Libraries professionals extend a historic wave of unionization at the university. Since 2021, over 5,000 Penn employees have won union elections and entered negotiations for first contracts with the university. In September 2024, resident physicians and fellows in the Penn Health System represented by CIR/SEIU secured their first contract, which guarantees pay increases of 24-28% and expands parental leave. Working together as the Coalition of Workers of Penn, formed with the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, employees are seeking better pay and working conditions at Penn, Philadelphia’s largest private employer.
Penn Libraries joins a national movement of workers who have unionized as part of AFSCME’s Cultural Workers United (CWU) program. AFSCME’s CWU includes cultural workers at libraries, museums and zoos fighting for better pay and working conditions, demanding equity and transparency in their workplaces.
AFSCME represents more cultural workers than any other union, including 10,000 museum workers at 100 cultural institutions in the public and private sectors and more than 25,000 library workers at 275 public and private libraries.