May 24, 2021

To Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors,

As members of the Executive Committee of United Working Families, an independent political organization made up of over 100,000 members, we write to express our support for the Experimental Station Union. 

We believe that all workers have the right to a union and to a collective voice in the conditions of their own employment. We also know from our own experiences that unions have an important role to play in fighting gentrification, displacement, and inequality. These are critical issues facing the south side neighborhoods served by the Experimental Station, and we believe that a unionized workforce is essential to addressing them.

We urge you to voluntarily recognize the Experimental Station Union now.

Sincerely,

United Working Families Executive Committee:
Stacy Davis Gates (Chair), Chicago Teachers Union Vice-President
Abbie Illenberger (Vice-Chair), Grassroots Illinois Action
Erica Bland-Durosinmi, SEIU HCII Executive Vice-President
Alex Han, at-large delegate
Tony Johnston, CCCTU Local 1600 President
Mayra Lopez-Zuñiga, at-large delegate
Matthew Luskin, Chicago Teachers Union
Andrea Ortiz, at-large delegate
Dian Palmer, SEIU Local 73 President
Anthony Joel Quezada, United Neighbors of the 35th Ward
Amika Tendaji, at-large delegate
Rey Wences, at-large delegate

April 29, 2021  

To Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors,

Faculty Forward, the union of non-tenure-track faculty at the University of Chicago, stands in solidarity with the workers of Experimental Station in their recent formation of a union. We wish to express our enthusiastic support for the crucial role that Experimental Station initiatives and workers play in building community and cultural infrastructure on the South Side of Chicago. Moreover, we believe in the right of all workers to have a collective voice in setting the conditions of their employment and in helping to determine the future course of their organization. Only a recognized labor union can properly afford workers this right. We urge you to act in the spirit of collaboration and community that Experimental Station represents by voluntarily recognizing the union now. 

In Solidarity,
UChicago Faculty Forward

April 18, 2021  

To Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors:

The University of Chicago Democratic Socialists of America stands in solidarity with the recently formed Experimental Station Union. The labor done by these workers to build community cultural infrastructure throughout the Woodlawn neighborhood and the entire South Side is absolutely crucial. Experimental Station is a valued project in our community and it will only be strengthened by recognized union labor. A union is absolutely essential for the work the Experimental Station is already working on to be truly sustainable and long-lasting. Workers deserve the collective voice that a union offers.

As users and supporters of Experimental Station’s services, we urge you to support collaboration and community by voluntarily recognizing the Experimental Station Union.

In solidarity,
University of Chicago Democratic Socialists of America

April 17, 2021  

To the Executive Director and Board of Directors at Experimental Station,

We are writing today in support of the Experimental Station Union. 

As an ensemble-led arts organization, the Neo-Futurists celebrate collaborative decision-making and recognize the courage it takes to speak one's truth; therefore we support the workers' decision to unionize. They have the right to a safe, equitable, and transparent workplace where their collective voice helps determine the organization's future. An empowered staff will be an asset to the organization and an important step toward the fairer future of nonprofit work. 

The Neo-Futurists urge the Board to voluntarily recognize the Experimental Station Union. In doing so, you will demonstrate your commitment to the organization's values of mutualism and hospitality.

Respectfully yours,
The Neo-Futurists

April 13, 2021  

Dear Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors, 

We, the curators of the Gather series at the Comfort Station Logan Square, are writing as fellow cultural workers to voice our emphatic support for the Experimental Station union, and to urge you to voluntarily recognize them. 

The Gather series is an experimental sound and performance series that focuses on creating artistic connections across musical communities. The series takes place at Comfort Station Logan Square, an interdisciplinary arts space dedicated to providing free programming for the community. We strongly admire the independent cultural infrastructure that the Experimental Station has built to address local needs. Experimental Station has a unique cross-disciplinary approach and community-facing model that deeply inspires our own programming, and we see the Experimental Station as a highly valued institution within the city’s cultural ecology. 

The unionization of arts and cultural workers is absolutely essential to maintaining this cultural ecology. The strength and relevance of cultural programs are born out of the empowerment of those building and maintaining them; the ability of Experimental Station’s staff to collectively determine the organization’s future is necessary for the artistic health of your local community and the city as a whole. 

The anti-union rhetoric and union busting tactics with which you have responded are profoundly disappointing and stand in direct opposition to this healthy cultural ecology. We stand in solidarity with the Experimental Station Union, and again call upon you to urgently and voluntarily recognize them. 

Thank you for reading, 
The Gather Series team at the Comfort Station Logan Square 
Rebecca Himelstein, Allen Moore, Nick Meryhew

April 8, 2021  

To Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors:

We, the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers’ Chicago chapter, are writing this letter to express our solidarity with the staff at Experimental Station, who announced recently that they have formed a union. We strongly and sincerely urge you to recognize their union, voluntarily and immediately.

Among the many activities in the space, Experimental Station is also a venue for arts programming, including musical performances. Our members have performed in and attended some fantastic shows at Experimental Station. As musicians and allied workers, we believe workplace democracy in our city’s venues is crucial for advancing the rights of workers and artists and for creating spaces that are safer and more equitable for everyone in Chicago’s musical landscape, especially people of color. We are certain in our perspective that a unionized Experimental Station will only expand its possibilities as a site for collective creativity and experiencing music together. 

Additionally, UMAW Chicago recognizes that arts venues exist within communities that have their own needs and history, and as a group, we want to push back against culture-washing venues that do not take these issues into account. Therefore, we want to highlight specifically our support for Experimental Station Union’s statement that “[their] workplace conditions impact [their] ability to effectively serve the Woodlawn community and its surrounding neighborhoods” and their demand for “a safe and transparent work environment…where staff are empowered to address systemic issues of white supremacy and sexism.”  

As vaccinations proliferate and reopening looms, UMAW Chicago is also keeping an eye on venue practices with regard to COVID safety. We maintain the voices of the workers are the most crucial for any discussion about what reopening safely might look like. Now is the perfect time for you to foster an environment where workers’ needs are answered, so we can move forward from the pandemic with a stronger and healthier music scene than ever before.

All of us in UMAW Chicago would be honored to perform in and attend shows in a unionized venue, where we know the workers are respected.  We are shocked and horrified to hear there have been attempts by you to interfere with the formation of the union. Union-busting is incredibly serious and harmful, and would greatly damage Experimental Station's standing within the arts community. Once again, we urge you to give voluntary recognition to the union, immediately.

Sincerely,
Union of Musicians and Allied Workers,
Chicago chapter

April 6, 2021

Dear Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors,

Graduate Students United, the union of graduate workers at the University of Chicago, stands in solidarity with the workers of Experimental Station in the recent formation of their union. In support of the crucial labor done by these workers to build community cultural infrastructure throughout the Woodlawn neighborhood and the entire South Side, we urge you as Executive Director and Board members to immediately voluntarily recognize the Experimental Station Union. 

The non-profit work taken on by Experimental Station is a crucial and valued project of community-building in our neighborhood, and it will only benefit by being done by recognized union labor. A union provides workers with an essential voice and stake in their projects; it is mutually empowering and encourages greater collaboration in support of shared goals. Voluntary recognition of the union would be both an expression of Experimental Station’s professed values and would set a positive example for community and worker power in a neighborhood where major employers like the University of Chicago have instead chosen hostility toward organized labor, and whose missions and relationships have suffered as a result. 

As users and supporters of Experimental Station’s services, we urge you to prioritize collaboration, community, worker power, and sustainability by recognizing the Experimental Station Union. 

In solidarity, 
UChicago Graduate Students United

March 24, 2021

Dear Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors:

As an organization that strongly supports the right of workers to unionize and meaningful labor protections for all workers, and that counts members involved with Experimental Station tenants and programs among its ranks, 48th Ward Neighbors for Justices wishes to add our voice to the chorus calling on you to immediately and voluntarily recognize the Experimental Station staff union. 

Our members have spent time at the Experimental Station because of the array of powerful community spaces and projects connected to it. Innovative journalism organizations, teaching and mutual aid efforts, and one of the warmest and most welcoming coffee shops in the city all call it home. The staff are the people who have made this possible. We support the Experimental Station Union in their efforts to create healthy, accountable, and equitable working conditions, and their right to form a union to do so. 

As the workers of the Experimental Station have said, forming a union will empower them to better pursue ES’s mission safely and sustainably, and ultimately support the organization’s fulfilling its potential. It’s time to live out the Experimental Station’s values of mutualism, hospitality, and community power. It’s time to acknowledge workers’ right to collective voice and responsibility in the future of their work. Immediately and voluntarily recognize the Experimental Station staff union. 

In solidarity, 
48th Ward Neighbors for Justice

March 24, 2021

Dear Connie and Experimental Station Board,

I am writing to you from the NICU unit at the hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina with my newborn on my chest. I wouldn't be writing if I didn't think this was crucially important.

While it may feel like a burden to have the staff unionizing, I see it as a total gift. It means that they believe in the vitality of the organization and the incredible value of its future work. This is opposed to leaving work they care about because they don't believe a future with the organization is viable.

The times call for us to be adaptable, to seek cooperative models, to root out racism and misogyny. Organizations not doing this work will be left behind by their funders and their communities. This is clear to me from my four years as Assistant Director at Experimental Station, the extensive equity training I have received and as an executive director of a non-profit organization.

I truly believe this effort will help Experimental Station reach its potential. I would be happy to listen or speak with any of you. Please feel free to reach out.

Sincerely,
Matthew Searle Giddings

March 24, 2021

Dear Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors:

The University of Chicago Labor Council is a coalition of members of campus unions and related university and community organizations. We are writing to urge you to extend voluntary recognition to the Experimental Station Union. The Experimental Station's commitment to an explicitly collective and mutualist project of building independent cultural infrastructure on the South Side of Chicago has made it a highly valued institution in our neighborhood. This project will be strengthened by allowing your staff a collective voice, and welcoming a collaboration with empowered workers, in the understanding that true mutualism requires power-sharing. This course of action will also provide a powerful example to other local employers, such as the University of Chicago, whose hostile and adversarial relationship with organized labor has done so much damage to our community.

As such, we stand proudly in solidarity with the Experimental Station Union, and again urge you to extend the Union voluntary recognition.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Members of the University of Chicago Labor Council

March 23, 2021

To Connie Spreen and the Experimental Station Board of Directors,

As tenants of Experimental Station and deeply committed members of our community, we the undersigned want to express full-hearted support for Experimental Station staff in their process of organizing. This letter comes from key representatives of the building’s tenant organizations: Invisible Institute, South Side Weekly, and Build Coffee.

As tenants, we were drawn to Experimental Station by its commitment to alternative infrastructure, and by the idea that in sharing space, all of our organizations would become more responsive, innovative, and rooted in community. Where else could three journalism outlets, a bike shop, a farmers market, and a café exist in such fluid collaboration? 

As we think you’ll agree, people are the heart of this building. In our daily interactions in shared space, we have built a community here. A unionized staff reflects the best parts of this building, a place where people across our organizations feel a deep sense of agency and ownership, of freedom and responsibility. As neighbors and collaborators, we are excited by the idea that a unionized workplace could increase staff retention, enabling longer term collaborations, and allow for a stronger voice in an organization that has long invested in a diverse ecosystem.

We are deeply grateful for the home we have found here, and the Experimental Station staff, past and present, are integral to sustaining that home. It has been a tough year for communities built on daily contact, and we know that the ES staff has borne the brunt of having their in-person jobs inoperable in the pandemic. To us, this unionization effort represents a renewed commitment to this building and the projects to come as we recover and reimagine. We ask you to immediately and voluntarily recognize the Experimental Station staff union, and lean forward toward the futures we can make together. 

If you’d like to discuss any of this further, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

With deep hope and excitement,
Build Coffee
Invisible Institute
South Side Weekly
Jess Monigal