Kennedy Center Employees File for Vote on Unionizing

Employees of the Kennedy Center, which has been under new management since shortly after President Trump took office, have informed the National Labor Relations Board that they want to form a union. As reasons, the organizers on Thursday cited the firings of nearly 40 people and a lack of transparency from officials at the Washington arts institution. About 60% of eligible employees, more than 90 people, signed union cards that were turned in to the NLRB, the Washington Post reports. Trump took control in February, purging the center of bipartisan appointees and engineering his election as chairman.

"We demand transparent and consistent terms for hiring and firing, a return to ethical norms, freedom from partisan interference in programming, free speech protections and the right to negotiate the terms of our employment," the employees said in a statement. The Trump administration has defended its cost-cutting, saying the Kennedy Center is in poor financial condition, per the New York Times. Trump's changes have also prompted artists to cancel scheduled appearances. While employees often discuss forming a union first with management, the Kennedy Center organizers went straight to the NLRB, per the Post, saying they feared retaliation.

The UAW is helping organize the staff. "This is a ground up, worker-led effort aimed at improving transparency and working conditions," Tim Smith of the UAW said in a statement. The NLRB will oversee the election, which requires majority approval to pass. One goal, per the Post, is to change the employees' status from "at will" to "for cause." At-will employees can be fired at any time with no reason given; the change would require a legally defensible reason to be given when an employee is fired. New Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell has indicated that he opposes unions, once by offering free parking to all nonunion workers. On Thursday, Grenell posted on X a denunciation of actor Robert De Niro's speech this week at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition to criticizing Trump's actions toward the arts, De Niro sounded a call to organize. (More John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts stories.)