Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Unionizing American Architects

Date: October 14, 2025
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Chris Beck

Overview

This episode of Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff delves into the recent unionization efforts among American architects, breaking a century-long absence of such organizing in the field. Wolff unpacks current issues around immigration enforcement, wage inequality, and imperial actions abroad, before turning to a substantive interview with Chris Beck, architect and union organizer, to discuss the obstacles and breakthroughs leading to America’s first union of architects in 100 years. The conversation explores the profession’s unique relationship to labor, capital, and technology—especially the implications of artificial intelligence (AI), and looks at democratic alternatives for empowering workers.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. News & Commentary: Labor, Policy, and Inequality

ICE Raid on Georgia Battery Factory

• [01:10] Wolff discusses a high-profile ICE raid on a South Korean-owned electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, highlighting the contradiction in U.S. policy: attracting foreign investment while criminalizing immigrant labor.
  • "They were shackled, they were photographed, they were herded around, they were abusively treated... And they've all gone back home to South Korea... They were welcomed home as heroic victims of the United States." (A/Wolff, [03:40])
  • Notes the chilling effect on future foreign investment and critiques the political theater of scapegoating immigrants.

U.S. Wage Inequality & CEO Pay

• [08:30] Wolff reviews the latest data:
  • Real average worker wage grew less than 0.5% (August 2024–25).
  • CEO pay at S&P 500 companies rose 7% on average in 2024—over 17 times faster than worker wages.
  • Tesla offers Elon Musk a historic 10-year pay package of $1 trillion.
  • "We're making the rich richer and everybody not at all. You and I live in a system that works that way." (A/Wolff, [11:55])

Continued U.S. Military Engagements

• [13:00] Reports on 75 U.S. air attacks against Al Shabaab in Somalia in 2025, noting the contradiction with presidential claims to oppose “endless wars.”

2. Interview with Chris Beck: Unionizing American Architects

Background of Chris Beck

• Architect and organizer, based in Brooklyn, NY.
• Served on committees for the first architectural union in 100 years (Bernheimer Architecture), and continues union work with Architectural Workers United alongside the International Association of Machinists.
• Instructor at New School University.

The New Book: “The Labor of Architecture”

• [15:25] Purpose:
  1. Document the contemporary collective journey to the first architectural union in a century.
  2. Investigate why it took so long for architects—unlike engineers or nurses—to unionize.
  • "The core of the book is why was this so difficult to do?" (B/Beck, [15:49])

Historical and Structural Barriers to Professional Unionization

• [17:05] Beck traces architecture’s evolving relationship with labor:

  • In the Middle Ages, “master builders” were more integrated with on-site labor.
  • The Renaissance introduced the idea of the architect as a director, focusing on design and drawing, with actual construction handed off.
  • This led to an identification with “capital” rather than labor, even as most architects are wage earners.
  • "Architects...identify much more strongly with the owner's interest...when in reality, their position is something quite different." (B/Beck, [19:20])

• [20:10] Wolff draws a contrast to other professions and describes how architects are socialized for “endless cocktail parties” seeking the patronage of capitalists.

Impact of Technology and AI

• [21:10] Explores how technology, especially AI, is a threat—and an opportunity—for architects’ work.
  • The introduction of CAD, then BIM (Building Information Modeling), and now AI, has steadily eroded the craft of drawing and the role of the architect.
  • "What’s going to be left with architecture if we don’t push back...the only way [other professions] have been able to do that is through a strong union effort. We don’t have that right now." (B/Beck, [22:40])
  • Loss of autonomy and threat to job security highlights the need for collective action.

The Profession’s Role: Service to Profit vs. Public Good

• [24:54] Beck underscores the tension between architecture as a tool for private profit versus broader public benefit.

  • Most architects are salaried employees with little say in which projects are designed and little input in broader societal impacts.
  • "The majority of [architects] are working class in my opinion...But...we’re totally excluded from all those questions in the private sector." (B/Beck, [25:15])
  • Architects often face ethical dilemmas when working on controversial projects (e.g. oil company HQs, prisons).

• [26:50] Wolff highlights the anti-democratic nature of private control of the built environment:

  • "The mass of people who have to live with the architecture are excluded, like the architects themselves, from the design idea...only in the hands of the tiny minority rich enough to hire an architect." (A/Wolff, [27:20])

Models for Democratic Control: The Utopia Project

• [27:53] Beck describes Sweden’s 1960s Utopia Project—a government/union/industry initiative to co-design workplace software, suggesting such models could empower architects and other creative workers to shape the tools they use, rather than being at the mercy of monopolies like Autodesk and Adobe.
  • "We have no say in the design of our software...we’re totally at the behest of these two companies." (B/Beck, [29:00])
  • Suggests pairing this software co-design with “wage labor savings funds” as radical, democratic alternatives.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On ICE Raids:
  "This is all theater. It panders to...scapegoating the immigrants. Is Mr. Trump's number one calling card...even sabotaging his own claim to be bringing business here is worth it." (A/Wolff, [05:10])

• On Wage Inequality:
  "CEO pay went up 7%. That means their income went up 17 and a half times faster than that of the average worker." (A/Wolff, [09:40])

• On Professional Identity:
  "...the architect resembles something much more like the owner, when in reality, their position is something quite different than that of the owner." (B/Beck, [19:20])

• On AI and Labor:
  "What's going to be left with architecture if we don't push back in the way that we've seen writers in Hollywood push back? The only way they've been able to do that is through a strong union effort. We don't have that right now." (B/Beck, [22:40])

• On Public Good vs. Profit:
  "We all go to school with really good ethical aims of wanting to make the world a better place. And the reality is very starkly different...doing projects for Saudi Arabian oil companies or other prisons or all these things that are really morally questionable." (B/Beck, [26:35])

• On Democratic Alternatives:
  "We have no say in the design of our software...so you could see something like [the Utopia Project] in combination with the minor plan, really dramatically transforming the workplace of designers." (B/Beck, [29:00])

Important Timestamps

• 01:10 – ICE raid on Georgia battery factory and its economic implications
• 08:30 – Wage data: stagnant worker pay, skyrocketing CEO compensation
• 13:00 – U.S. military actions in Somalia
• 15:25 – Chris Beck introduces the new book, “The Labor of Architecture”
• 17:05 – Historical reasons for architects’ resistance to unionization
• 21:10 – Impact of AI and technology on the profession
• 24:54 – Architecture for profit vs. public good
• 27:53 – Utopia Project and democratic control of creative professions' tools

Takeaway

This episode highlights the growing movement among American architects to assert their rights as workers, challenge professional traditions wrapped in the interests of capital, and consider new forms of democratic participation—both through unionization and in shaping the technologies of architectural practice. The conversation underscores the broader necessity of worker organization in the face of inequality, technological change, and the private appropriation of the public good.

For professionals interested in learning more or getting involved with architectural unionization, Chris Beck encourages outreach.