Posts tagged Metropolitan Museum of Art
Workers at Some of the World’s Largest Museums Are Demanding Fairer Pay
December 2, 2025 // The potential new union chapter at the Met is with the Technical, Office, and Professional Union, Local 2110, part of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union. The museum does have union chapters for projectionists and audio/visual technicians with Local 306 IATSE, and for about 700 security guards with Local 1503, part of DC 37, and there has previously been an attempt to establish a wall-to-wall union bringing all staff together in one chapter.
Met Museum Workers Move to Unionize
November 20, 2025 // On Monday morning, a labor union petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to approve a bargaining unit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that would cover roughly 1,000 salaried and hourly workers across the museum’s sectors. If the vote passes, the Met would rank among the largest unionized museums in the nation.
Detroit Institute of Arts Workers Move to Unionize
November 5, 2025 // Since workers at the New Museum unionized in 2019, cultural workers at institutions across the nation have followed suit. Last week, staff at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced plans to unionize (AFSCME). If recognized, the new union, LACMA United, will represent over 300 museum employees across institutional departments. A recent survey of more than 3,000 museum employees by Museums Moving Forward (MMF) found that while working conditions for unionized museum staff have shown modest gains since the survey’s first iteration, widespread low pay, burnout, and career dissatisfaction persist. The report also found that non-union staff earn about 78 percent of what their unionized counterparts make. (However, the report noted, unionized museum workers are “more dissatisfied on nearly all metrics than the average museum worker.”)
LACMA Employees Push to Unionize, Calling for ‘Fairer Compensation’ and ‘Expanded Benefits’
October 30, 2025 // The AFSCME Cultural Workers United District Council 36 has aided in the unionization efforts at other LA museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Foundation, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits. The larger AFSCME Cultural Workers United represents employees at museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Frost Art Museum in Miami, the Brooklyn Museum, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Storm King Art Center Recognizes Workers’ Union Following an Overwhelming Vote in Favor of Organizing by Staff
June 30, 2023 // “We are thrilled to welcome the workers of Storm King Art Center into our CSEA family,” CSEA southern region president Anthony M. Adamo said in a statement. “Not only do these workers have the support of their fellow CSEA members in the Hudson Valley and across New York State, they are also part of a strong coalition within our international union AFSCME known as Cultural Workers United, which allows them to connect and collaborate with other cultural workers organizing their workplaces.” Other museums with AFSCME units include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where a wall-to-wall union, formed in 2020, reached a contract agreement in October following a 19-day strike. The nation’s ranks of unionized museums and arts institutions have swelled in recent years, especially since 2020. Storm King workers began organizing last August, following the announcement of a $45 campus revamp, expected to be completed in 2024, the Art Newspaper reported.
Union Workers at Hispanic Society Begin Strike Over Stalled Contract Negotiations
April 4, 2023 // The union is seeking, among more, a 5 percent retroactive wage increase, guaranteed future wage increases, and guaranteed minimum salaries for all union positions, ranging from a $52,000 to $95,000, “depending on the salary grade of the position, and on par with other museums in the city.” A major point of contention is the health insurance, which the Society used to pay in full. Their latest offer asks that employees cover between 2.5 percent and 12.5 percent of their premium, based on income, while the union insists that the Society pay the entirety of both premiums and deductibles. (The Society’s statement notes that UAW Local 2110 works with other New York City cultural institutions where employees contribute to their healthcare.)
Baltimore Museum Employees Unionize Amid National Labor Movement at Art Institutions
July 19, 2022 // Workers at the Baltimore Museum of Art announced plans to form a union last October. Among the changes the union sought were fairer wages, better job security, and input in museum policies that directly affected them, according to the union’s website. Many workers said they were inspired to embrace unionization in the wake of the pandemic, when front of house staff — who faced the greatest risk of contracting the virus — had little say in safety protocols and daily decision-making. BMA did not layoff or furlough employees during the pandemic, but mass layoffs at museums nationwide illustrated the preciousness of employment in the industry. Chris Bedford, Christine Dietze, Asma Naeem, New Museum and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Philadelphia Museum, as well as the MFA Boston and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, all formed unions. The Whitney Museum was among a small group of institutions to have seen their unions voluntarily and swiftly recognized by their leadership — the decision came just two weeks after employees filed a petition to join the Technical, Office, and Professional Union of Local 2110. (MOCA also voluntarily recognized its union).