Obama Center Workers Revolt Over Benefit Cuts and Rising Workloads

Just months after Barack Obama’s massive presidential center opened its doors in Chicago, some of the people working there say they have had enough.

Employees connected to the Obama Foundation and Obama Presidential Center are moving to form a union, alleging rising workloads, higher health-care costs, reduced paid time off and a freeze on raises and promotions.

The development creates an uncomfortable bit of political irony for an institution built around the legacy of a Democratic president who spent years publicly championing organized labor.

The organizing campaign was announced Wednesday in an open letter signed by 68 employees. Workers are joining forces with AFSCME Council 31 under the name Obama Workers United.

Organizers say the proposed union could ultimately represent more than 250 employees working at the sprawling Chicago campus, the Foundation’s Washington, D.C., office and remotely around the country.

The timing is especially striking.

The 19.3-acre Obama Presidential Center opened to the public in June after years of planning, construction delays, legal fights and intense debate over its impact on Chicago’s South Side.

Now, less than four months later, workers say problems are already piling up.

According to employees involved in the organizing effort, staff members recently learned there would be no winter pay increases. They also say promotions have been suspended, health-care costs are rising and paid time off has been reduced.

Workers further complained about “increasing workloads” and said Foundation leadership offered what they characterized as “vague responses” when concerns were raised.

The organizing letter also alleges a high rate of employee turnover, warning that departing workers are taking valuable experience and institutional knowledge with them.

That has given critics of the high-profile Obama project another issue to scrutinize following years of controversy surrounding its cost, construction and unconventional design.

The center, reportedly costing roughly $900 million to develop, includes a museum tower that has drawn plenty of ridicule online, with critics comparing the imposing concrete structure to everything from the “Death Star” to a giant trash can.

But the worker dispute may prove more serious than jokes about the building’s appearance.

Obama Workers United is asking Foundation leadership to voluntarily respect the union effort and avoid spending money on anti-union lawyers, meetings or messaging.

Employee Luke Gilday said workers simply want a voice in decisions affecting their jobs.

“What we’re hoping for, and really the reason why we’re forming our union, is just because we believe we should have a say in the decisions that are being made that impact all of our lives,” Gilday said.

He added that employees affected by decisions involving pay, benefits and insurance feel they have been shut out of those discussions.

“At the end of the day, we’re the ones who are facing those impacts, and we don’t even have a seat at the table,” he said.

Perhaps the most politically awkward part of the dispute is that employees are using Barack Obama’s own words to make their case.

The workers’ letter highlighted a statement Obama made in 2016 while promoting organized labor.

“If I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union,” Obama said at the time. “If I saw a problem in my workplace, I’d organize my coworkers to do something about it.”

For workers now organizing at the institution bearing his name, those words have taken on new significance.

Gilday even argued that forming a union is consistent with the values the Obama family has promoted.

“Mr. and Mrs. Obama’s legacy is one of hope,” he said. “It’s one of fairness, and it’s one of transparency.”

The episode comes as the Foundation’s latest financial disclosure shows a noticeable change in its finances, although the numbers do not support claims that the organization is broke.

The Foundation reported about $159.1 million in revenue for 2025, down roughly 24 percent from approximately $209.8 million the previous year. Expenses climbed from about $91.4 million to $100.8 million.

Even so, the Foundation remained enormously well-funded, reporting approximately $1.23 billion in total assets at the end of 2025 and more than $1.1 billion in net assets.

That makes the labor complaints potentially more politically damaging than financially alarming: employees at an organization associated with one of America’s most outspoken pro-union Democratic presidents are now demanding better pay, benefits and working conditions of their own.

So far, however, the Obama Foundation is not publicly fighting the organizing campaign.

A Foundation spokesperson said the organization is “deeply committed to the fundamental right of workers to organize and make their voices heard.”

The Foundation also said it has “deep respect for unions” and intends to work collaboratively with organized labor as employees consider representation.

That response may help the Obama organization avoid an even more uncomfortable confrontation.

But workers are now putting its professed pro-labor principles to a very public test — and they are using Barack Obama’s own words to make sure everyone notices.