Detroit’s Michigan Science Center Workers win union victory under UAW

DETROIT, Mich.—Museum cultural workers achieved a victory on May 8 as Guest Relations and Education workers at Detroit’s own Michigan Science Center voted overwhelmingly to unionize under the UAW. The victory follows a two-year campaign for the right to collective bargaining and includes demands for better access to sick leave, health insurance, livable wages, and improved, safer working conditions on the museum floor.  

The Michigan Science Center has been a beloved spot for Detroit families and students to become passionate about science for decades, originally known as the Detroit Science Center from 1978 to 2011 before reopening in 2012 as “the Michigan Science Center.” However, decades of company pressure on hourly museum workers accumulated into the decision to organize. Despite how many of the educators and guest relations workers are enriched by their ability to educate and interact with the public, they are still made to work in poor exhibit conditions and survive on barely livable wages, whilst the job market grows even more precarious.  

Corinne Lawrence, a Guest Relations worker at the Michigan Science Center, expressed to People’s World the importance of unionizing museum workers. “We are exploited just like any other worker,” Lawrence explained. “We have passion and pride for our community, and in education and science, and it’s being taken advantage of.”  

“There’s an expectation by management that we just have to accept whatever conditions are put before us,” Lawrence remarked, “and we want those conditions to change. We are not disposable.” 

Trevor Nichols, an education specialist at the Michigan Science Center, told People’s World how the museum cuts corners to salvage its profits and how unionizing could further their demands for better pay for workers and to improve the conditions of the exhibits during their programs.  

“There are things in the Science Center that have been broken for a really long time,” Nichols recounted. “When kids come in, and we’re supposed to educate them, show them the fun of science, we usually have to tell them, ‘I’m sorry, this is broken.’ That feels awful.”  

“We serve communities that are more at risk of impoverishment, and we want to help to relieve that,” Nichols continued, “but we don’t see that reflected by the Science Center.”  

“The more power we have as educators, the better we can serve our community.”    

As the voting approached a close, museum workers came on their days off to cast their YES votes as the rally outside grew in numbers. One worker came in her graduation cap and gown as Wayne State University’s graduation ceremony occurred nearby.  

When voting officially closed, the museum workers exited the building in unison to join their UAW siblings and supporters outside to celebrate this historic victory—lighting up the crowd with energizing speeches and chants.  

Joining the celebration alongside the museum workers and UAW members was LaShawn English, the UAW’s Region 1 Director and the first woman and woman of color elected to serve in the position. English had been a dedicated director for the UAW and pushed for numerous organizing and educational efforts, further paving the way for a unified union where members and leadership come together to fight for workers’ rights by making the region open and accessible to all workers.  

The Michigan Science Center workers’ victory joins with growing museum unionizing efforts in the city of Detroit, alongside the workers at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Public Library. 

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