Sesame Workers Win Their Union!

With 74% of the vote, employees at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind Sesame Street, announced yesterday that they have won their election for representation with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153. The group includes early childhood education experts, fundraisers, facilities staff, producers, paralegals, and more, representing a broad cross-section of the people who power Sesame Workshop’s impact.

Sesame workers organized in March and called on the nonprofit’s management to voluntarily recognize their union, but Sesame instead followed a standard union-busting playbook, deploying anti-union talking points in emails to workers and information sessions, dragging out negotiations over the bargaining unit, and filing last-minute challenges to workers’ right to vote.

“Workers at Sesame are deeply committed to doing things that are kind and fair,” said Phoebe Gilpin, a senior director of formal learning at the Workshop. “These are the same values that bring Sesame into so many people’s homes. And we weren’t seeing consistency in that in our workplace itself.” Read more about the workers' successful campaign in The Nation and follow the Sesame Workers Union on Instagram!