Posts tagged museum workers
George Eastman Museum workers file for union vote
September 2, 2026 // Located at 900 East Ave., once the home of Kodak founder George Eastman, the museum employs nearly 100 people — including projectionists, preservationists, restaurant workers, curators and administrators — and the majority favor unionization, George Eastman Museum Workers United said in a statement.
Chicago History Museum workers ratify first union contract
August 28, 2026 // In May, the National Labor Relations Board issued a rare formal complaint, alleging that under the museum’s previous president, Donald Lassere, management retaliated against employees who voted to unionize in 2025. Shortly after that vote, four employees were fired, while others were disciplined or threatened with termination, according to the NLRB. The board found the museum violated federal labor laws.
Seattle Art Museum Workers Are Unionizing
May 15, 2026 // Unbothered by grey skies, dribbling rain, and that stale-ass statement, SAMWU and its supporters held a rally and press conference outside the museum at 1st Ave and University. Before the press conference started, members chomped on pizza and cupcakes, handing out union t-shirts and buttons with the SAMWU logo—Jonathan Borofsky’s “Hammering Man” sculpture, mid-hammer, natch—and socialized. Representatives from SAM Visitor Service Officers (VSO) union, Tacoma Art Museum Workers United, and the Washington State Labor Council AFL-CIO all commingled.
Met Workers Vote to Join Local 2110 UAW, Creating One of the Nation’s Largest Museum Unions
January 19, 2026 // The new union, approved by a vote of 542-172, comprises staff from across 50 departments at the Met, including curators, conservators, librarians, visitor experience coordinators, and archivists. According to a statement from Local 2110, roughly 100 ballots remain sealed due to a management challenge, which objected to their inclusion in the union. Whether they will ultimately join the union will be decided through “a mutually agreed upon arbitration process” after the union is officially certified by the National Labor Relations Board,
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.
DIA workers say museum’s Diego Rivera murals inspired them to form a union
November 7, 2025 // Those murals, in part, have inspired DIA workers to move to form a union. The DIA Workers United effort was announced Tuesday by the Michigan chapter of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which is asking for voluntary recognition from the museum. “It’s been something that workers at the museum have been discussing, honestly, since I’ve been there,” says Tyler Taylor, who started at the DIA as an intern in 2008
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.”)
Museum of Science and Industry workers’ union votes to authorize strike
September 24, 2025 // The museum employees have been in contract negotiations for more than two years. Workers say 90% of eligible employees voted to strike, if necessary.
Penn Museum workers demand raises, protest Univ. pay proposals in picket after authorizing strike
July 10, 2025 // “The average annual salary in the bargaining unit is less than $45,000,” Shaw said. “We’re looking for raises that will not only allow workers to keep up with increases in the cost of living, but to do better over time.” Union leaders also handed out flyers that emphasized Penn’s continued “lowball pay proposals” despite the University’s “annual operating budget of $4.7 billion.” “It’s not so much to ask from the University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer and one of the wealthiest in the city,” Shaw said.
Toledo Art Museum Workers Move to Unionize
April 18, 2025 // Organizing under the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), some 100 workers will form the new union, which emerged after TMA’s glass technicians came together under Teamsters in 2007. The new unit will include staff from the visitor services, glass studio, research, education, curatorial, and library departments, among other eligible sectors, and is expected to grow upon selecting a representative.