Employees at the Obama Foundation are pushing to unionize after months of growing frustration over pay, benefits, workloads, and what they describe as thin support from leadership. The move comes just after the Obama Presidential Center opened, adding a fresh round of scrutiny to an already high-profile operation in Chicago.
In a letter reviewed by Fox News Digital, dozens of workers said the job has gotten heavier while the perks have gotten lighter. They pointed to rising workloads, reduced benefits, and a steady loss of experienced staff, arguing that the foundation’s internal culture has become harder to manage and harder to trust.
The organizing effort is being called Obama Workers United, and employees are leaning on Barack Obama’s long record of support for organized labor. That detail gives the push a sharp edge, since workers say they are asking the foundation to honor the same principle Obama has publicly backed for years.
“Amidst increasing workloads we have seen our benefits rolled back and support from leadership to be minimal. When we voice concerns we are met with vague responses, leading to uncertainty about our future with the foundation,” the workers wrote.
Another major complaint is turnover. Employees said colleagues have been leaving with valuable knowledge that is not easy to replace, and the people who remain are left scrambling to keep up.
The foundation operates the new Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side, which has been a magnet for attention since it was announced. The campus includes museum space, offices, public areas, and athletic facilities, but the latest headlines are now focused less on the architecture and more on the people keeping the place running.
The timing also raises questions about management priorities. Workers say the foundation has asked for more while giving less, and that imbalance has made it harder for staff to feel secure in their roles.
The union drive is backed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. In their letter, the employees urged foundation leaders not to throw up roadblocks or spend money fighting the organizing effort.
“We urge senior leadership to honor our legal right to form a union and not waste resources on anti-union messaging, anti-union lawyers, or anti-union meetings,” the letter states.
The workers also quoted Obama’s own 2016 words about the value of unions. “If I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union. If I saw a problem in my workplace, I’d organize my coworkers to do something about it,” Obama wrote at the time, according to the employees’ letter.
The push comes against a backdrop of broader concern about how the foundation is run. A previous report noted that Valerie Jarrett, a longtime Obama ally and the foundation’s CEO, received $740,000 in 2024, while the organization’s total salaries and benefits climbed sharply over several years.
The foundation has said its executive pay is in line with the market for similar nonprofit groups. That defense may calm some outside critics, but it does not appear to be easing the tension inside the organization.
The proposed union would cover more than 250 employees across Chicago, Washington, D.C., and remote positions nationwide. The group says it is trying to protect workers who feel the pace has become too much and the response from leadership too little.
The foundation has said it supports employees’ right to organize, and that message now sits alongside the workers’ demand for real respect, not just polished language. As the effort moves forward, the spotlight is shifting onto how the organization handles pressure from the people who know its day-to-day reality best.
