Employees at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are unionizing to push back against President Donald Trump’s control of the organization.
The Kennedy Center United Arts Workers said in a statement Thursday that they had filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to represent the institution’s staff. The workers did not identify themselves.
An NLRB spokesperson confirmed the petition had been filed but was not docketed yet. The agency’s regional office will be responsible for setting an election date and overseeing the voting on whether to be represented by the union.
The union, which is affiliated with the United Auto Workers, positioned the move as a direct response to Trump taking the helm as chairman of the Kennedy Center after firing the former chairman David Rubenstein and 18 members of the bipartisan board of trustees earlier this year.
Since Trump’s takeover in February, the union said in a statement that 37 employees have been fired, including veteran administrators and senior leadership. The center’s privately-funded Social Impact Division was cut and it’s national arts education programming has been reduced.
The employees looking to unionize said they want terms for hiring and firing Kennedy Center staff and a ban on partisan interference in programming.
The Kennedy Center didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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