{"id":601063,"date":"2026-04-23T06:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601063\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:15:10","slug":"studio-v-architecture-employees-announce-union-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601063\/","title":{"rendered":"STUDIO V Architecture employees announce union drive"},"content":{"rendered":"

A request for certification (RC<\/a>) petition was filed today by employees of Studio V Architecture<\/a> (SVA), a New York City<\/a> office, with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB<\/a>). The bargaining unit\u2019s goal is to form a union<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bargaining unit at Studio V is collaborating with Architectural Workers United (AWU<\/a>), an affiliate of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Members of the bargaining unit AN spoke with for this story asked to remain anonymous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bargaining currently has a \u201csuper majority,\u201d meaning most of the office is in favor of forming a union. Now that the RC petition has been filed with the NLRB, \u201cwe have requested that the employer remain neutral, and we hope that they do,\u201d a bargaining unit member said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMany architectural workers are unable to achieve a reasonable work-life balance\u201d and \u201cfeel compelled by their work ethic to provide uncompensated overtime labor<\/a>, and lack the power to negotiate benefits,\u201d an employee said, when asked about the reason for starting a union.<\/p>\n

Unionizing employees at Studio V first and foremost want to \u201cclaim our legal right to collectively bargain,\u201d the employee continued, \u201cso it doesn\u2019t fall upon individuals, but reflects the collective will of the group. This ultimately yields greater transparency and democracy in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

David DiMaria, an organizer with the machinists, told AN the NLRB vote will likely take place between mid to late May. If the NLRB votes in favor of the union then the collective bargaining agreement process can begin. This is now the fourth major union drive at a private architecture office in the U.S. since 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cLongstanding Industry Issues\u201d<\/p>\n

Studio V Architecture was founded in 2006 by Jay Valgora. The New York City office has a dozen employees and touts a long list of residential<\/a>, institutional, commercial, civic<\/a>, and urban design projects in its portfolio. AN emailed Valgora for comment.<\/p>\n

The bargaining unit at Studio V cited \u201clongstanding industry issues\u201d as to why employees began discussing unionization. \u201cMany of us have been at SVA for several years,\u201d an employee said. \u201cWe developed camaraderie and bonded by fire working on projects. We started talking informally about a union a year ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

On March 20, some members of the union handed management at Studio V a letter asking for a card check neutrality agreement<\/a>\u2014a contract where employers sign a pledge to remain neutral during the unionization process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Management at Studio V did not grant the request for card check neutrality. A handful of conversations ensued between management and the bargaining unit that ultimately weren\u2019t fruitful, culminating in today\u2019s filing of the RC petition.<\/p>\n

The long term goal is to achieve better \u201cwork-life balance\u201d and caps on overtime, and power to negotiate benefits and salary increases. Employees also want to set \u201ca minimum wage for all roles, so there\u2019s a standard of wage throughout\u201d the office. This is \u201ca common issue between workers of similar seniority and experience level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are structural issues in every office. With this campaign, the goal as much as anything else is to uplift the profession in general,\u201d a bargaining unit member said. Forming a union \u201cis the most viable path to effect change, especially for new graduates\u2014people who just entered the workforce with tons of debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union drive announcement out of Studio V Architecture comes not long after the collective bargaining agreement at Sage and Coombe Architects, another New York City office, went into effect after unanimous ratification, as reported<\/a> by AN.<\/p>\n

Sage and Coombe Architects and Bernheimer Architecture<\/a>, a Brooklyn firm, are both unionized. Should the NLRB vote in the bargaining unit\u2019s favor, Studio V will become the third private architecture in the U.S. to successfully unionize.<\/p>\n

A court case over alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act<\/a> by Sn\u00f8hetta after a failed union drive<\/a> in 2023 remains ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A request for certification (RC) petition was filed today by employees of Studio V Architecture (SVA), a New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-601063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}