Staff members of the American Library Association (ALA) have announced plans to unionize with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 in Illinois. More than 40 employees of ALA, whose main headquarters is in Chicago, shared an open letter with their colleagues on March 2 encouraging their support for a new union, ALA Workers United (ALAWU).

The letter noted that since ALA launched its new strategic plan in 2025, some staff members have expressed concerns about “recent multi-round layoffs, increased workloads, benefits reductions, financial crises, ingrained salary disparities, and lack of transparent decision-making” moving them to begin the process of organizing with AFSCME. Union membership is open to more than 100 eligible ALA employees.

AFSCME represents more than 35,000 library workers nationwide—more than any other union—including some 3,000 AFSCME Council 31 members who work in Illinois libraries in Chicago, its suburbs, Peoria, Rockford, and Aurora; at state universities; the Newberry Library; and elsewhere. The union also represents thousands of employees of nonprofit organizations throughout the state. AFSCME offers a variety of post-secondary scholarships for families of its members, provides insurance products and credit counseling, and offers free consultations and discounts through Union Plus Legal Services.

IN SEARCH OF A SUPERMAJORITY

ALA employees had been discussing forming a union since summer 2025, said ALA Program Officer Kaileen McGourty, a member of the organizing committee. A group met with AFSCME representatives in the fall, voted on whether to work with the union, and decided to move forward, bringing in ALA members from the Chicago and Washington offices, as well as the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Choice headquarters in Middletown, CT.

ALAWU’s demands include:

• Competitive, equitable salaries in a transparent structure, with regular cost-of-living increases;
• Comprehensive benefits, including paid parental leave and stable health and retirement benefits;
• Job security that preserves talent and knowledge at ALA, helps prevent burnout, and allows the continuation of meaningful work without arbitrary layoffs;
• Investment in staff retention through clear professional development and career growth pathways; and
• A voice in developing the organizational strategies and policies that affect staff.

The ALAWU organizing committee is currently gathering signed union cards from coworkers; the 40-plus members who had signed the open letter represented “almost half of the entire unit on day one, before the public phase of conversation even began,” said Anders Lindall, public affairs director for AFSCME Council 31. “And that momentum has only increased since.”

There are two possible paths toward certification of the bargaining unit under law: a union election administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which needs only 30 percent of union cards to be signed; or ALA’s voluntary recognition of the union, after which the NLRB will certify the union without an election. This second scenario requires a supermajority—60–70 percent or more of cards signed—and while that decision is made by the organizing committee, AFSCME encourages the latter path.

“We want to see workers really build a strong union with a very strong majority before moving forward,” Lindall told LJ. “Workers having a voice through a strong union is going to make ALA a better place to work, which is going to make ALA a stronger and more sustainable organization, which is going to benefit the libraries and library workers and readers that it serves.”

Once the organizing committee has gathered supermajority support, they will ask ALA leadership to voluntarily recognize their union.

ALA Workers Union organizing committee at ALA Headquarters Photo courtesy of AFSCME Council 31

For McGourty, the process has brought an added feeling of solidarity with her colleagues. “I am hearing a lot of excitement from people that we can talk together about how we feel, and finding out that everyone feels the same: that we want to have our voices heard, that we’re not alone in feeling burnt out or not listened to,” she told LJ—and also “that we love our jobs, and we want to be able to keep doing them, and we want to be able to keep making ALA the organization that we believe it is.”

She added, ““I have gotten to know more of my colleagues in the past few months than I have in four years.”

Leadership has remained appropriately neutral—unsurprising, said McGourty, as ALA Executive Director Dan Montgomery comes to the association from five terms as president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and almost a decade as head of the North Suburban Teachers Union, AFT Local 1274.

“ALA’s mission has always been rooted in the belief that people deserve a voice in their communities, in their institutions, and in the decisions that affect their lives. That belief extends to our own workplace. We respect our employees’ legal right to organize and will engage in this process thoughtfully and in good faith,” said Montgomery in a statement. “We remain committed to fostering a workplace that supports the professional growth, well-being, and contributions of our staff.”

As a program officer, “I get to see the impact that ALA grants are making every day for libraries on the ground,” noted McGourty. “We are forming our union to bring our voices into this organization, because we think that this is going to make ALA better. We’re doing it because we love ALA.”