Maggie Vo

Annual rental tenant, GASH (UChicago Scav Team)

The Graduate and Alumni Scav Hunt team has been proud to call the Experimental Station home for the past 8 years. We've loved our time at ES, but part of what truly makes it special is knowing ES is a wonderful organization that does so much good for this community. Now, however, this knowledge only enhances my disappointment that the Experimental Station hasn't recognized and supported this tried-and-true means to staff empowerment. All workers deserve a union that can advocate on their behalf. I give every ounce of my love and support to the ES staff in their effort to form a union.

Jared Simon

Former Link Up Illinois staff

As a former ES employee and community member, I fully support ES staff's unionization and urge Connie and the Board to voluntarily recognize the union. That they have not done so as of yet is an utter embarrassment, and the doubts it casts on their values only underscore the need for staff to have, collectively, a hand in safeguarding their own wellbeing and shaping ES's future.

Chris Willard

former Blackstone Bicycle Works Youth Instructor and Co-manager

In my 9 years at Blackstone, the shop was strongest and did the most good when we had staff with a united purpose and Experimental Station (ES) left us alone to pursue it.  We had some great years. At its best, ES served as an incubator, providing a home to creative and pioneering programs, but at its worst, it prevented growth, keeping us in the nest while reaping benefits from the good work we were doing. It's understandable that ES would keep Blackstone as a subsidiary; the program garners attention, affection and cash donations that are necessary to keep the ES building and organization running. Still, Blackstone staff, contract workers, and the youth are underserved by, and unrepresented in the current power structure; and Blackstone is failing because of it. If there’s any chance for Blackstone to succeed under the ES umbrella, it’ll be with a united workforce. I support the ES Union.

Amanda Berry

youth mentor, volunteer, and former staff of events, bike shop, farmers market, and everything in between

I have been a volunteer and on and off employee of Experimental station since I discovered it in 2016. Immediately, I fell in love with the space and its ability to form such genuine and real connections between all. This space has brought me endless amounts of warmth, growth and above all, a family. What I have come to find out is the individuals that end up within the space, exist with such passion, integrity, and kindness. Each employee and friend I have been lucky enough to cross path with in the space have dedicated such loyalty to notions of acceptance, support, change and resistance to the community which they are a part of. This being said, I stand in solidarity with the Experimental Station Union because it is only right that each individual who dedicates such heart and time, deserve all the same in return. I am excited to see what opportunities and channels of mutual reciprocity that this union will open up, furthermore, believe that this is the only way in which this space can truly sustain its people and its programming.

Kelly Fitzpatrick

Former 61st Street Farmers Market Manager

As a former employee of Experimental Station, I’m happy to show my support of ES staff unionizing. I believe in the collective empowerment of staff and tenants to hold leadership accountable for ongoing grievances and harm.

RJ Gitter

Former volunteer, Blackstone Bicycle Works, 61st Street Farmers Market

I was a perpetual lingerer at the station. I lingered there because the place is special. Community is crammed into every nook and cranny, hanging upside-down, spilling out into the street (and the lot across the street), wandering into the garden, peeking into the garage.… Community is literally stacked on top of itself over there. Years later, I have not easily found other organizations like it, and fewer yet that promise to persist in this god-forsaken tundra of a world.

Connie—you're a beast. You built the place and have maintained it for now almost two decades. Don't fight the union! The social climate around labor of all kinds is changing: to recognize the union is necessary to ensure the goodwill of the many communities that lodge in the station, not to mention that of your employees. As much as a union presents leadership with vulnerability, it is also an opportunity to innovate in your mode of collaboration and improve the longevity of a little not-for-profit such as yours: just think about your turnover!

Honor and protect your employees. They are vulnerable in ways you cannot always anticipate, even at your humble cul-de-sac on Blackstone. They love the Experimental Station and understand the value of independent infrastructure. They are willing to give a part of their lives to it. If they believe a formal structure is necessary to negotiate with you and the board, then trust them on it. You run a small arts incubator, not a factory production line; don't let the place become a war zone.

Alison Flowers

Invisible Institute

Unions are an important accountability tool. If your staff wants to unionize, it’s an indication that they’re asking to share power with you and that the existing dynamic is too asymmetrical and not culturally sustainable for your workplace. It’s also a way for staff to take more responsibility to clearly advocate for the conditions they want to operate under. 

Madeline Wolfe

Former employee

I support Experimental Station staff unionizing because I believe in the experience and knowledge that workers can offer in planning the future of an organization.

Jeanette Taylor

20th Ward Alderwoman

“Union strong, non-union wrong! The bottom line is that unions are key to empowering workers and creating an avenue for their input. I wholeheartedly support the workers at Experimental Station unionizing and urge the Executive Director and Board to stand by their employees! Workers make the institution run, and for that reason, their needs should be of top priority!”

Robert Peters

13th District Illinois State Senator

I’m a big supporter of Experimental Station. I’m a big believer in organized labor. For years, Experimental Station has been at the intersection of innovation and culture in our community, and the only way for that progress to continue—and to continue in the most inclusive and equitable way possible—is through a union.

Kenya Senecharles

Former Build Coffee employee

As a former Build Coffee employee, I’m so excited to be supporting the Experimental Station Staff Union! Employees at ES have the right to have a say in how their workplace is run and this is a great way for ES to materially live its values.

Helena Duncan

Community member and neighbor

As a neighbor of Experimental Station I've been grateful to take advantage of so much of its programming and offerings, from attending public newsrooms at Build Coffee and contributing to the South Side Weekly to shopping the farmer's market and helping out with the Marketbox initiative. Experimental Station is a vital fixture here in Woodlawn. I fully support its employees, and urge the Board to recognize their union at once.

J. Michael Eugenio 

Experimental Station Communications Associate
ES Union Member

We’re unionizing for Experimental Station’s collective future. We celebrate our past—and there’s a lot to celebrate—but we also know there’s a lot of work ahead. All of us should be coming together with our communities to transform the conditions and spaces where we live, work, and play. We must make our world and our work more sustainable; we must experiment; we must make harm less thinkable; and we must act, together—today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter. I hope all of you will join us as we build our future. Love and solidarity <3

Wendy Zeldin

Former 61st Street Farmers Market Manager

Experimental Station is filled with remarkable humans doing crucial work, but the dearth of accountability and transparency is neither sustainable nor acceptable. I enthusiastically stand in solidarity with the efforts to unionize, so that workers are genuinely more empowered to voice their grievances, and that leadership will be held responsible for duly addressing them. Fostering a safer and more supportive space is imperative for the growth and strength of a workplace! Experimental Station’s dedication to mutualism and hospitality is intrinsically aligned to support these efforts, and I am thrilled to see how those tenets can be upheld and deepened through unionizing! 

Dan Rowell

Customer and past volunteer
South Side Diabetes Project

I've been a customer of the farmers market and a vendor with the South Side Diabetes project on and off for the past 6-8 years. I've had my bike tuned up every spring by the Blackstone shop. I believe the staff of the bike shop and Experimental Station deserve a union. I hope Experimental Station leadership will receive this request with grace and solidarity.

DJ Fish

Blackstone Bicycle Works
ES Union member

As an educator and mechanic I've seen the amazing things that can happen when folks come together collectively in pursuit of their goals. The ES Union will ensure the safety of Blackstone Bicycle Works students and staff.

Elizabeth Lerum

Grants and Development Manager
ES Union Member

I’m unionizing with my coworkers because I believe that all workers should have collective input on the conditions of their workplaces. Our union is a great opportunity for Experimental Station to deepen its commitment to mutualism and hospitality, and to strengthen its collaboration with the staff, tenants, and community members.

Bea Malsky

Build Coffee, co-founder

I'm so glad to be in solidarity with the Experimental Station staff union. I believe an organized, powerful staff is the best way for the building to realize its full potential as a site of community-building, care, and collective work toward the world we want to live in.

Daniel Evans

Former Experimental Station employee,
current freelance contractor

Unionization is a logical step in employee empowerment. With no end in sight to austerity politics and wealth inequality, non-profits and their missions continue to fill a vital role in the fabrics of communities. Non-profit workers that are secure in their representation, wages, benefits, and professional development make for more effective, more creative, and more mutual organizations—and importantly, a more fulfilling life and career for the workers. It's a win-win. When we think of the bike shop and career development, the capacity to advocate for one's own working conditions is among the most valuable and empowering sets of skills for their future careers. Until we achieve a comprehensive civic-syndicalist state of mutual aid, unions are key for any workplace.

Rebecca Connie

Blackstone Bicycle Works Program Manager
ES Union Member

As an educator, community member, and parent I'm excited to unionize with my fellow coworkers so that we may advocate for the resources needed to fully support Blackstone Bicycle Works youth, staff, and families.

Kanisha Williams

Former Blackstone Bicycle Works, Build, and 61st Street Farmers Market customer, South Side Weekly contributor

I spent a lot of time at the Experimental Station while attending UChicago and see it as a vital and lovely place to spend time and build community—not just for UofC affiliates, but for all of Hyde Park and its adjacent neighborhoods. Of the surrounding organizations, I think the Experimental Station puts maybe the least emphasis on its proximity to the university. I think to deepen and really make that feeling a reality, the Experimental Station Union should be recognized and bargained with. When I was going through a difficult time, the ES became a refuge; whether it was grabbing and venting at Build, working with editors and fact-checkers at SSW, or bike shopping and spending the weekend at the farmers market. The ES offers so much love to the community it serves. The people who keep it running should feel supported and have a major say in its continued growth; that’s the best way for them to feel that love and support come back to them.

Lily Baker

Blackstone Bicycle Works and 61st Street Farmers Market Customer

As a long time Chicagoan I have been to the Experimental Station many times! My bike came from Blackstone Bikes, I love your farmers’ market, and I know your programs make an impact in Hyde Park/Woodlawn and across the city.

As a former non-profit and cooperative business employee myself, I also know that employees need a voice in their workplace, and that incorporating employee voices in workplace governance and decision making is a huge benefit to all.

Also, just recognize the union! Do you really want to do what Howard Brown or the Dill Pickle did to their unionizing employees and thereby become the target of a ton of bad press that will be circulated amongst your very pro-union customers and supporters?? Nope. Bad look, bad plan, don’t do it! The union is not your enemy!!

Emeline Posner

Former South Side Weekly Managing Editor and 61st Street Farmers Market seller

The Experimental Station is one of the most special communities I've encountered in Chicago. It has held that place for me and others in no small part for the hard work, dedication, and straight-up love of all the workers who sustain the building's spaces, projects, conversations, dreams. These people are incredible--but that's not the point. Everyone deserves to have a voice in determining their workplace conditions. Recognize their union: the ES can only become a better space for it.

Kim Werst

Former 61st Street Farmers Market Manager

Working at Experimental Station from 2014–2016 is still a highlight of my career because of the overlap of dynamic programs and partners in the building. I still talk to others about Connie's leadership and the communal vision and collaboration of ES. I support any framework to ensure that energy, vision and collaboration is continuous for generations to come and integrates voices from all the intersectional voices and staff levels that I am proud to have worked alongside. I am in favor or all restorative solutions that continue the good work I witnessed while I was employed and still enjoy hearing about. I look forward to seeing this solidarity and equitable representation of stakeholders again when I return to visit next time I am back in Chicago.

Bettina Chang

Former tenant, City Bureau co-founder

As a former tenant and community member at the Experimental Station, I support Experimental Station staff union in their desire to create a safe and healthy workplace.

Hannah Nyhart

Build Coffee, co-founder

The Experimental Station is an incredible community to be a part of. I’m excited and proud that the staff who fill so many integral roles—running the farmers market and bike shop, getting the Link Match program out across the city, and welcoming people into the building in many other forms—have chosen to unionize.

Corrigan Nadon-Nichols

Former Employee

Workplace democracy is the ticket to an equitable society. It's not the easiest road, but I think it's the best shot at a sustainable culture.

Elliot Karl

Former Blackstone Bicycle Works work-study employee

I am a former work-study employee with Blackstone Bicycle Works at Experimental Station. I have seen firsthand the love and labor poured into the Woodlawn community by staff at ES. Unionization seems like the next step for this critical community space to empower workers to shape programming and deliver even better services to residents and program participants. I’m so excited to see what this union and ES leadership can build together.

Matthew Searle

Former Assistant Director

Having worked at Experimental Station from 2015–2020 as the first non-founding director, I was able to witness, experience, and support the many dimensions of what makes the building and organization operate. I fully believe that this step to unionize is a vote of confidence in the vitality of the organization and its future value to the public. The future we need is cooperative and collaborative - free from the diminished possibilities that come from white supremacy culture and sexism - and this is a bold step for the organization to reach its collaborative potential, together.

Stephanie Larson

Volunteer at Blackstone Bicycle Works

I have been a volunteer with Blackstone Bicycle Works for the past two years and have been witness to the remarkable passion, dedication, and professionalism of its staff and student workers. I stand in absolute solidarity with the Experimental Station staff unionizing.

Harry Backlund

Former tenant, City Bureau co-founder

I've spent most of my professional life in the community around the Experimental Station and I strongly support effective representation for the staff that make the space possible. Signing in gratitude and solidarity, and with hope for the future.

Erisa Apantaku

Customer of Blackstone Bicycle Works and the 61st Street Farmers Market, participant and audience member of Experimental Station events, former volunteer at SSW, current staff member of the Invisible Institute, and regular Build customer. Overall, just an Experimental Station friendly face!

I stand in solidarity with Experimental Station staff unionizing! As a regular around the Experimental Station since 2017, I deeply appreciate the supportive community space the staff at ES create, and as such, I value and support their needs around unionizing. The ES workers give so much in creating the awesome space that is the Experimental Station, I believe they have every right to a say in how the institution is run! I urge the board to immediately voluntarily recognize the ES union.

Sarah Jane Rhee

Organizer and artist

I’ve been to so many events here and as an organizer and artist. I value this space and the people who work there, and I know that having workers who are represented by a union will only make this place better, and what a great example for other cultural spaces in the city.

Sam Stecklow

Journalist, Invisible Institute; Editor, South Side Weekly

It is extremely disappointing to see an organization like ES union bust, and really brings into question a lot of the values of the organization. The ES staff are incredibly hardworking and deserve collective bargaining rights if so desired.

Monica Trinidad

Co-Founder, For the People Artists Collective

The Experimental Station is truly a critical hub at the intersections of grassroots news, art, food, culture, and community on the South Side. Our artist collective has held events in this space because of its accessibility and commitment to cultural events. I am really excited to be in solidarity with the ES staff unionizing. With this union, ES would absolutely flourish as a true testament to the power of community, collectivity, and transparency.

Naimah Thomas

2019 Artist-in-Residence at Build Coffee and avid supporter of ES

Greetings my name is Naimah Thomas. I'm a Chicago-based artist living in the Washington Park neighborhood. I stand in solidarity with the ES staff because my growth would have not been possible without them. ES is a creative hub that helped me to foster my artist identity through the meal-based residency at Build Coffee. It was a phenomenal experience and everyone in the building was so supportive throughout my time there. In addition, I was able to work with ES and Build to provide several art as therapy workshops to the community. This would have not been possible without all the passionate, caring, supportive individuals at ES. During my residency, I was featured in a Block Club Chicago article highlighting my creative practice, the workshops, and encouraged participation from the community. Creative hubs aren't possible without the people who are dedicated to their community and supporting artists.

Andrew Fan

Invisible Institute

I am excited to support the ES staff union. The people who work at ES do incredible work building community and their union deserves recognition.

Carmen Alicia Aiken

Former Market Intern

I worked with so many amazing people to grow the impact of the farmers market, and loved being a part of an organization with so many parts close to my heart (bikes and youth and art!). But as a veteran of not-for-profit life, I also know that hierarchies grow stagnant and workers deserve to have input in decisions and have their feedback listened to. A union at Experimental Station should be welcomed by current decisionmakers, and lauded for being at the vanguard of making good change in the wider non-profit Chicago community. The possibility here is something to be proud of.

Caitlin Power

former Build employee

Super excited and proud of ES workers unionizing! This union is a crucial step towards an Experimental Station that is shaped by community, accountability, and care.

Amber Sollenberger

customer of Build Coffee, Blackstone Bicycle Works, 61st Farmers Market, reader of the South Side Weekly

I've benefited from the goods and services provided by tenants of the ES since I moved to Hyde Park from California 10 years ago. I've also been an employee and volunteer in the nonprofit sector for much of my adult life, and thus have seen firsthand the advantages of workers unionizing. The missions and visions exemplified by the organizations within the ES reflect the dedication the staff have for their communities, and I fully trust that the more control workers have over their labor the better they can continue to fulfill those missions. ES is a unique space and the people who make it so fantastic deserve a seat at the table where big decisions are made.

Jess Monigal

Civic Projects, designer (current tenant)

Since my first visit in 2017, this space has imbued me with a sense of optimism and reshaped what I thought mutualism could look like in a workplace. I support the ES union because all staff should have a role in shaping these programs and the space they operate in. By recognizing the union, Experimental Station can continue to serve our neighborhoods and live up to its values.

Kevin Applewhite

Blackstone Bicycle Works, Former Lead Mechanic, Alumni

I stand with ES staff and their reasons for unionizing. I have been a part of Experimental Station for 15 years. I grew up in the BBW Earn-A-Bike Program, and later became an employee in the shop. Throughout the years I’ve seen EVERYTHING. This union is really needed. I support 1000%.

Ellen Mayer

Former editor at South Side Weekly, Build Coffee Customer, MarketBox Sustainer

I am a former editor and administrative staff member at South Side Weekly. During the time that I worked with the Weekly, the Experimental Station was my office — I split my time between the Weekly space and Build Coffee, and often prepared my lunch in the Experimental Station's kitchens. I also collaborated with Build, City Bureau, and The Weekly to hold multiple community events at ES. Given my close relationship both with the tenants and staff of the experimental station, I am very excited to support this unionization effort. I believe in the crucially important work that ES does, but I am also intimately aware of the challenges facing workers in small, under-resourced non-profit organizations. Even when unintentional, these environments can cause significant harm to workers including overwork and transgression of professional boundaries — and often lack formal protections and supports for workers experiencing precarity. I believe that a union is a powerful way for the ES to put its values into practice in promoting and caring for a healthy and resourced community, and I am disappointed that the board and directors have failed to recognize this.

Mari Cohen

Former editor and workshops manager, South Side Weekly; former fellow, intern, and contractor, City Bureau; Build Coffee customer

For four of the seven years that I lived in Chicago, much of my life and work revolved around community journalism programming taking place in the Experimental Station. The ES fostered an incredibly generative, welcoming, and open environment for collaborating on meaningful projects and building new relationships. None of that work or relationship building would have been possible without the staff, who supported and organized our ability to use the building and facilitated a welcoming environment. The Experimental Station professes to have a justice-oriented lens in its programming and mission, and its staff deserve justice, too, in the form of fair working conditions and a unionized workplace.

Robert Sorrell

Former City Bureau staff and South Side Weekly writer and editor

I stand in solidarity with the Experimental Station staff unionizing. All workers deserve to have collective bargaining rights and transparent processes and support to address grievances. It is the bare minimum. It's shocking and upsetting to see that an institution that strives to be a hub for community and equity would stand against these basic rights for its workers, the people who make interacting with the space such a joy. I worked in the Experimental Station in the summer of 2016 as a fellow with City Bureau and have also attended numerous events and farmers markets at the space. If the Station is truly interested in being an inclusive space that fosters community and allows unique and important work to be done, they need to lead by example and acknowledge their employees right to unionize.

Louisa Richardson-Deppe

Fan/customer/reader of 61st St. Farmers Market, Build Coffee, Blackstone Bicycle Works, City Bureau (former tenant), Invisible Institute, South Side Weekly

The Experimental Station is an incredible community resource that made my 6 years living in Hyde Park & Woodlawn joyful, supported, and connected to community. Experimental Station employees deserve to have a say in the the conditions and structures of their work as they collectively contribute to building the kind of world we all want to live and grow in! I'm proud to support the Experimental Station Union <3

Nicolle Neulist

Community member

I'm a Chicago resident, and I love the Experimental Station as a community hub. I'm a member of multiple community organisations that have held events at the Experimental Station, and have always admired and appreciated it as a place with deep community spirit.

I stand in solidarity with the Experimental Station staff who want to unionise. It does not matter whether it's a smaller workplace or a larger one: all workers deserve a strong and coherent voice in their workplace. Workers at the Experimental Station have the right to form a union to be that voice, and they have made that choice.

I have always appreciated the Experimental Station's commitment to grassroots community events and initiatives. I am looking forward to the Experimental Station continuing its commitment to the South Side community — this time, by recognising the union formed by the community members who work at the Experimental Station and make it the place that it is.