In recent years, archival workers have turned to unionization to address the systemic issues that have affected the profession: precarity, low wages, and unsustainable workloads. While archives are often housed in institutions with reputations for intellectual and cultural stewardship, such as universities, libraries, museums, and historical societies, the labor conditions within these institutions may tell a different story. For many archivists, unionization represents a demand for job security and a broader call to reimagine workplace culture and equity.
Why Archivists Are Organizing
The archival profession is undergoing a period of transformation. The field is increasingly recognizing the need to align compensation and workplace practices with the expertise archivists bring to their institutions. Many organizations are reassessing their reliance on temporary contracts or grant-funded roles and exploring more sustainable staffing models to support essential functions, such as processing, digital preservation, and research services.
Even for those in full-time positions, the profession is becoming more attentive to workload balance and the importance of healthy workplace cultures. Archivists are speaking more openly about the value of their labor and the importance of shared decision-making. This shift reflects a growing acknowledgment that passion for work should be met with structures that counteract burnout and support long-term well-being.
Within this landscape, collective organizing has emerged as a powerful tool for positive change. Archival workers are advocating for equitable compensation, transparent workload practices, effective grievance processes, and meaningful participation in institutional governance. These efforts are helping to build a stronger, more sustainable profession.
Challenges to Organizing
Organizing in archival settings presents unique challenges. Many archives are embedded within large institutions with complex bureaucratic structures and existing unions that may or may not adequately represent archival concerns. In some cases, archival workers are considered professional staff and excluded from bargaining units representing support staff or faculty. In others, they are lumped into broader job classifications that do not reflect the specialized nature of their work.
Archivists may also hesitate to organize due to fears of retaliation, particularly those on contingent contracts or probationary periods. Others may feel isolated when working in small teams or as solo archivists, lacking the critical mass needed to initiate organizing efforts. The culture of professionalism in the field can also serve as a barrier, with some workers internalizing that advocating for labor rights is somehow at odds with the profession’s values.
However, these barriers have not stopped a wave of organizing. From academic libraries to nonprofit archives, workers are forming unions, demanding recognition, and winning contracts that reflect the realities of their labor. They are also forging coalitions with colleagues in adjacent roles, such as librarians, museum workers, and public historians, who face many of the same structural challenges.
This momentum signals an exciting shift. As more archival workers come together, they are strengthening their institutions and the profession. Organizing empowers workers to shape their own futures and reinforces the shared belief that archival labor is essential and worthy of protection. These collective efforts are laying the groundwork for a more inspiring future for archives.
Transforming Culture Through Collective Action
Unionization efforts are about more than wages and benefits; they are about power, voice, and culture. In many workplaces, decisions about labor are made without the input of those who know the work best. Unionization creates mechanisms for participation, accountability, and negotiation. It enables archivists to advocate not just for themselves but for the resources and support their programs need to succeed.
For example, unions can push back against using term-limited positions for ongoing work, advocate for professional development funding, and challenge inequities in pay structures. Additionally, unionized workplaces tend to promote greater transparency and equity. Collective bargaining agreements can establish clear job classifications, salary bands, and evaluation standards, reducing the opacity that often shapes archival careers.
Unionization as a Professional Imperative
For many archivists, unionization is emerging as a natural extension of their professional values. The ethical principles that define archival work thrive most fully in workplaces that share decision-making. By organizing, archivists create structures that align their practices with these ideals, thereby strengthening both their institutions and the communities they serve. Through collective action, they help to build a profession where ethical commitments are articulated and embodied.
Unionization also aligns with broader movements for labor justice in libraries, museums, and the cultural sector. As more archival workers join these efforts, they contribute to a vision of cultural institutions that care for their users, as well as the people who make the work possible.
A Future Worth Fighting For
Unionization in archives is a powerful tool for transformation. It offers a path toward more equitable, transparent, and sustainable workplaces where archivists are recognized for their dedication and the full value of their labor. In confronting precarity and advocating for change, unionized archival workers are helping to build a profession that lives up to its ideals—and securing a future worth preserving for everyone.
Most importantly, collective action is strengthening the future of the archival profession. As archivists come together to support one another, they are building a culture rooted in care. They are demonstrating that when workers have a voice, institutions grow stronger; when workplaces are fair, collections thrive; and when communities of practice unite around shared values, the cultural heritage sector becomes more resilient. This movement is laying a foundation for a future defined by possibility.
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